Chronometric Dating
Before there were any true scientific dating methods, scientists depended on their past archives of fossils and strata in order to determine how old a newly found fossil was. However, it wasn't until the mid 20th century that scientists could abandon this pathetic, inaccurate process and move into a more acceptable precise and detailed procedure. The old way was done by comparing one fossil to other fossils found in the same layer of the earth's ground and studying the physical characteristics of the fossil. Scientists took guesses and made assumptions of the age of a fossil and what time period in belonged to. With the discovery of chronometric dating, finally, a whole new world of answers and possibilities came into view and it opened doors
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Potassium decays into argon [Ar] gas which has a half-life of about 1.31 billion years. "Potassium either decays to calcium 40 by beta emission or to argon 40 by electron capture or positron emission" (Brown 156). This is why the Potassium to Argon ratio will increase over any amount of time and can help provide a date of fossilization. Volcanic rocks tend to hold tightly to argon in because of their crystalline structures, and it's somewhat easy to test for the amount of argon located inside them. Working with the amount of time given by the argon in these rocks, scientists can find out how long ago the volcanic eruption occurred. This technique has proven useful in dating rocks and minerals ranging from one-hundred thousand years to 4.5 billion years! Which is what scientists determine the earth's age to be. This form of chronometric dating isn't always one hundred percent correct, though. The problem being that scientists have to assume is that there is no initial argon in these rock samples, but sometimes, argon is present and the presence of argon throws the dating technique off. "Some samples have been shown to contain initial argon, and yield potassium/argon ages that are too old Other samples have been shown to have lost argon and yield ages that are too young" (Brown 271). Some scientists regard this as a small issue, while others find it to be a huge problem. To eliminate this threat completely they have discovered even more ways to revolutionize this
Potassium decays into argon [Ar] gas which has a half-life of about 1.31 billion years. "Potassium either decays to calcium 40 by beta emission or to argon 40 by electron capture or positron emission" (Brown 156). This is why the Potassium to Argon ratio will increase over any amount of time and can help provide a date of fossilization. Volcanic rocks tend to hold tightly to argon in because of their crystalline structures, and it's somewhat easy to test for the amount of argon located inside them. Working with the amount of time given by the argon in these rocks, scientists can find out how long ago the volcanic eruption occurred. This technique has proven useful in dating rocks and minerals ranging from one-hundred thousand years to 4.5 billion years! Which is what scientists determine the earth's age to be. This form of chronometric dating isn't always one hundred percent correct, though. The problem being that scientists have to assume is that there is no initial argon in these rock samples, but sometimes, argon is present and the presence of argon throws the dating technique off. "Some samples have been shown to contain initial argon, and yield potassium/argon ages that are too old Other samples have been shown to have lost argon and yield ages that are too young" (Brown 271). Some scientists regard this as a small issue, while others find it to be a huge problem. To eliminate this threat completely they have discovered even more ways to revolutionize this