The dating game

No, let me stop you there.They are put into formulas which are based on hard evidence, i.e. measurements of the decay rate.You are suffering from a common creationist disease: when you don't know where evidence comes from, you call it an "assumption".Scientists know the decay rate of various substances because they have measured them. Scientists aren't allowed to just "assume" things.

But you didn't "wonder" so much that you looked it up.Again, this is typical creationism. Your case is built on things which you personally don't know.The answer is simple. When rock is molten, as it is when igneous rocks are formed, then the argon, being a gas, boils out of it. But not quite all of it, and the precise quantity will depend on the particular volcano, how hot it was, the original composition of the rocks, and so forth.This can be verified by measuring the argon content of fresh volcanic rock. Because knowing the half-life is not sufficient: we would also have to know the exact amount of residual argon which did not boil out of the rock.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Well there is clearly something wrong with this nonsense, 'cos they start off by saying that they "all but one" of the dates were "discarded", and then they say that 10 were used.They're not even talking about the same samples, are they?If the creationists can't consistently tell the difference between 1 and 10, is it possible that they've misunderstood the rest of the paper?

The decay is exponential: the proportion of the original substance left at time t is given by k^t, where k is a constant between 0 and 1 depending on the isotope.So the half-life is given by log k 0.5.---Does anyone know how to do superscripts and subscripts properly?Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Well, you say that, but Bible Science News, November 1994, says:"Studies have been made of submarine basalt rocks of known recent age near Hawaii. These came from the Kilauea volcano. The results ranged up to 22,000,000 years."And these are the rocks which you say "give accurate dates"?Is there any chance you guys could get your story straight?Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Next, you can teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

Why? The constants of physics don't reproduce with variation. I'm afraid someone has been lying to you.No-one is "vey afraid of changes of constants".The reason scientists think that constants are constants is that when they measure them, they're constant. Let me know if there's any part of that you don't understand.

Then your memory is as faulty as your arguments.