August 23, 2007 at 3:07 am
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"Dr. Russ Humphreys reported on the measurements of helium diffusing (leaking) out of zircon crystals. The helium is produced by radioactive decay, but over time it can leak out of the crystals. If the zircons were billions of years, there should be very little helium left since it would have had plenty of time to diffuse away, yet there is still a tremendous amount of helium in the zircons—consistent with an age of about 6,000 years. The current amount of helium in the zircons, and the measured rate of helium diffusion show that a lot of radioactive decay has happened (to produce so much helium) and that it must have happened quickly in the recent past (otherwise the helium would have had time to escape). Dr. John Baumgardner reported on the detection of 14C in coal and in diamonds. Since 14C is a short-lived radioisotope, it cannot survive for millions of years. This is compelling evidence that these diamonds and coal deposits are thousands of years old at most. In particular, the..." - Paul Griswold