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Lecture 27: Deep Time - The Age of the Earth
How old is the Earth? In this lecture I review the ideas of cyclic and
linear time, and how this determines whether or not the question of the
age of the Earth is meaningful. I then review various ways people have
tried to estimate the age of the Earth, starting with historical ages
that equate human history with the physical history of Earth. We then
look at physical estimates of the Earth's age that do not make an appeal
to human history, but instead seek physical processes that play out over time
to make the estimates. This brings us to a discussion of radiometric
age dating techniques that use the radioactive decay of isotopes trapped
in minerals to identify the oldest Earth rocks and meteorites, and hence
establish a radiometric date for the formation of the Earth some
4.55+/-0.05 Billion Years ago. Recorded 2007 Oct 29 in 1000 McPherson
Lab on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
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By Richard Pogge
4.8
66 ratings
How old is the Earth? In this lecture I review the ideas of cyclic and
linear time, and how this determines whether or not the question of the
age of the Earth is meaningful. I then review various ways people have
tried to estimate the age of the Earth, starting with historical ages
that equate human history with the physical history of Earth. We then
look at physical estimates of the Earth's age that do not make an appeal
to human history, but instead seek physical processes that play out over time
to make the estimates. This brings us to a discussion of radiometric
age dating techniques that use the radioactive decay of isotopes trapped
in minerals to identify the oldest Earth rocks and meteorites, and hence
establish a radiometric date for the formation of the Earth some
4.55+/-0.05 Billion Years ago. Recorded 2007 Oct 29 in 1000 McPherson
Lab on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
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