Radiation, which refers to emissions of light or particles, is a type of energy transfer. Radiation takes place at any given moment in the environment or the body. Among sources of radiation to which humans are exposed daily are sun rays, radio waves coming from devices such as mobile phones and TV sets, appliances such as ovens or irons that emit heat, and medical machines such as ultrasounds. The radiation emitted from devices and machines do not cause ionization. Ionizing radiation is made up of high-energy wavelengths or particles, and this is the kind of radiation we get from x-ray, CT, and nuclear imaging. This is used to penetrate tissue to reveal the body’s internal organs and structures. Ionizing radiation can damage DNA, and when our cells cannot fully repair the damage, this may result in DNA mutations.[1] The radiation which poses real danger to humans and has the power to ionize is when radioactive—or unstable—atoms decay and emit alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) rays.

The earth, air, water, and all living things are more or less radioactive because radioactive atoms are everywhere. The average person is annually exposed to radiation levels of 2.6 – 10 mSv (millisievert), which is not that alarming. The maximum limit recommended for people exposed to radiation for occupational reasons is 100 mSv. The lungs of a person who smokes one pack of cigarettes a day are exposed to an annual radiation of 106 mSv.

How can we protect ourselves?

It is recommended by the World Health Organization that children younger than 16 should not use mobile phones; when they do, their calls should not exceed 10 minutes. When purchasing devices, you should also take into account its SAR (Specific Absorption Rate). Prefer devices with a SAR<1 W/kg. It is also recommended to unplug electrical devices when you are not using them, to keep electrical appliances as far away from your head as possible, use the hairdryer for short periods and in intervals, and to avoid using mobile phones for long conversations (or use headphones!).

It’s also worth reconsidering whether using radiation-emitting devices such as mammography, x-rays, or ultrasounds are absolutely necessary. In 2010, the British Department of Health and Social Care banned using tomography for screening purposes. Another study in the US found that one in ten people are exposed to high levels of radiation because of medical tests.

The average radiation rates (mSv) a person was exposed to during use of certain imaging devices is as follows:

Researchers also found that employees in nuclear power plants were exposed to amounts of radiation that far exceeded allowable amounts.

Beware of radon

The natural radiation humans are exposed to most is the gas radon. Some matter with radioactive atoms such as uranium and thorium – both present in the earth since its birth – emit radon, which seeps through the earth and into the walls of houses and through gaps in plumbing. It is recommended to air houses at least 15 minutes every 24 hours as the only way to be protected from radon.

The resistance of living things

Creatures have been created with different forms of resistance to the elements, including radiation. For example, dogs have a lower resistance than humans, while many other creatures such as rabbits, tortoises, and fruit flies have a higher resistance. And then there is the cockroach, which can survive even a nuclear attack. The lethal radiation dose for cockroaches is an incredible 670- 1000 Sv, whereas it is 6-8 Sv for humans.

Scorpions are also much more radiation-resistant than humans. They can withstand up to 1500 Sv, an amount that is 250 times the maximum dose humans can take. Studies have found a correlation between the strength of a scorpion’s venom and their resistance to radiation. The greater the amount of venom, the greater the resistance they have. The presence of the neural transmitter serotonin supports this view.

Are humans radioactive too?

Humans contain trace amounts of radioactive atoms, namely uranium (²³⁸U), potassium (⁴⁰K), and carbon (¹⁴C). An 80 kg human has natural radiation of 8000 becquerel every second, which is equal to 100Bq per kilogram. This amount is not high enough to cause any worry. The human body has 40 trillion cells on average, and every cell has about 100 trillion atoms. The proportion of the radiating atoms in the body is about 8000/4×10²¹.

Precision protection

The radioactive atoms in the body with the highest probability for carcinogenic effects are potassium (⁴⁰K) and carbon (¹⁴C) atoms. The decomposition that leads to cancer stems from mutations in genes, but the molecules that are the building blocks of genes do not have potassium atoms. The likelihood that a cell gets harmed is very low: it is necessary that the particles emitted from the radioactive potassium atom crash into the DNA molecule and harm it, which is as unlikely as threading a needle when blindfolded. The DNA is precisely protected inside the nucleus located at the center of the cell. If we consider the fact that the average diameter of a cell is about 10 microns (1 micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter), we can better appreciate how little space DNA occupies.

Radiocarbon atoms (¹⁴C), on the other hand, might be present in DNA molecules, and they are more dangerous because the emitted particles are more likely to find the target despite having weaker radioactive properties than potassium. A radioactive carbon atom turns into a nitrogen (¹⁴N) atom and may thus cause a chemical change in the DNA. In other words, the carbon atom is possibly to blame for the unexpected development of cancer.

The likelihood of harmful radioactive particles hitting a person’s DNA is low, and the protective system provided for it lowers the likelihood of developing cancer even more. New DNA molecules that form during DNA coupling are repeatedly checked by inspector enzymes. If there is an error, it is detected and then corrected. The broken code is taken out to be replaced with the correct version. Meanwhile, all these steps are checked by other enzymes assigned to the task. More errors might be made in the newly produced DNA molecule because of external factors. Yet ribosomes in the cell start to produce repair enzymes, as per the instructions from the DNA.

When thinking about all the protective factors that have been coded into the DNA for our survival against the 8000 radioactive activities that occur in our body every second, one cannot help but feel awe for the infinite mercy and wisdom that operate in our lives.

References

• http://time.com/5069317/california-mobile-phone-radiation/
• https://www.health.harvard.edu/cancer/radiation-risk-from-medical-imaging
• Choppin, G. et al., Radiochemistry and Nuclear Chemistry, Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology, 1995.
• www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/natural.htm

[1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/cancer/radiation-risk-from-medical-imaging

In this treatment, radioactive iodine atoms are administered to the patient. These are absorbed only by cells of the thyroid gland which are then eliminated by the radiation; as a result of this process, the over-activity of the thyroid gland is prevented. By the divine will of God, the All-Healing, the All-Wise, iodine is absorbed only by thyroid cells but not by any other cell-a truly wonderful phenomenon. This treatment is known as the “bloodless thyroid operation.”

After he began this treatment, my brother-in-law visited us one day. As soon as she saw him, my small daughter, who loves her uncle very much, ran to him and sat on his lap where she fell asleep after a very short while. But then she woke up within half an hour and suddenly started vomiting. We later understood that the unseen radiation being emitted from the radioactive substance in her uncle’s body first caused my daughter to fall asleep quickly as if she was anesthetized and later had negative effects on her.

Then, an article in a scientific magazine attracted my attention. The concepts of atomic (or nuclear) energy and radiation are usually perceived negatively because of the atomic bombs which were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima or the accident which occurred at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl. This negative perception has been caused by the sudden deaths of living species, great destruction and the permanent devastating effects observed in the environment after these events. However, the energy within the atomic nucleus also has many potential advantages for humankind. It is just as possible, with this energy, to illuminate houses and work places everywhere as it is to exterminate all the living beings in a city.

Negative effects of radiation

Radiation energy may directly affect molecules within a cell by causing structural disorders especially in its DNA. It also causes ionization of water molecules within a cell and releases free radicals which are harmful to the cell. Damage to molecules and genetic material within a cell may consequently trigger a process that can cause the death of that cell. Thus, it is strongly advised for pregnant women especially to stay away from sources of radiation and also not to expose the body to frequent radiation even for diagnostic purposes, such as X-rays.

Positive effects of radiation

As we consider its beneficial aspects, we realize that nuclear radiation is just one of the innumerable blessings of God. In the field of medicine, for instance, radiation is used to cure diseases like cancer, a disease which, ironically, it sometimes causes. Blood products and medical equipment may be effectively sterilized by the use of radiation. It is also useful in radiological visualization techniques.

Atomic nuclei with unstable composition (radionuclides), which disintegrate without any external interference, display features of radioactivity. The diffusion of energy-bearing rays α, β, γ as a result of this disintegration is called radioactivity and the energy-bearing rays are called radiation. The radioactive substances which are used for the diagnosis and cure of illnesses are known as radioactive medicines or radiopharmaceuticals. This kind of medicine may be composed of pure radioactive nuclei, or they may be compounds which are radioactivated by synthesizing them with radioactive nuclei.

Compared with other radioactive substances, the radiopharmaceuticals used in radiotherapy must have some specific features in terms of radiation type and energy level. Radiopharmaceuticals should be fully absorbed by diseased organ or tissue to be cured and should be applied in such a way that it disseminates the least possible radiation to the rest of the body (so as not to contaminate the body with radiation). That is, the half-life of the radioactive substance should be such that it maintains the correct level of radiation in the tissues to effect the required cure. God has created radioactive substances which emit pure β-rays so that they are ideal for curative purposes.

Radiotherapy

Radioactive nuclear therapy is a treatment for diseased human tissue, usually by the intravenous injection of a suitably formulated radioactive composition. In this treatment, the radioactive composition, when diffused within the body, is held more intensely within the diseased organs, and a kind of radiotherapy at cellular level is thus achieved. The most outstanding example of this kind of therapy is radioactive iodine treatment. This therapy is most frequently applied in cases of excess activity of the thyroid gland in patients with thyroid cancer. As iodine is mostly consumed by the thyroid gland in our body, radioactive iodine (I-131 which is the radioisotope of the element iodine) is particularly suitable for this treatment. The thyroid gland’s feature of absorbing and retaining more iodine than other organs, makes it feasible to treat this organ exclusively by this method when it is diseased. Other peptides marked with particular radioactive nuclei are used in the treatment of other types of cancer and success is observed in some cases. Nuclear therapy is also used in treatment of bone cancers and of pain caused by certain joint diseases.

Radiopharmaceuticals in palliative treatment of bone pain from metastases

The spread of cancerous cells from the diseased organ of the body to other organs is called metastasis. Damage and pain originating from osseous (bone) metastases may cause losses in activity and function for the patient. Radiotherapy has long been used particularly in the treatment of limited bone lesions. However, the side effects of radiotherapy are greater since the body areas exposed to X-rays must be increased where there are widespread osseous metastases.

Radiopharmaceutical therapy is useful for patients who have painful metastases throughout multiple osseous zones. In this therapy the patient receives an intravenous injection of suitably formulated radiopharmaceuticals. In this therapy a radioactive substance is used which rapidly leaves the blood circulation system and concentrates within the skeletal system and especially within metastized zones. Radioactive phosphorus has been used for more than thirty years for this purpose.

Radiopharmaceuticals in therapy for joint disease

Rheumatoid arthritis, also known as inflammatory joint rheumatism, is one of the most widely seen (approximately 1–2 %) of connective tissue diseases.

In this disease, medication in some cases can become ineffective in the long run and can even be the cause of serious side effects. Radionuclide synovectomy (or radiosynovectomy), which is used in some advanced cases of this disease, yields results close to those obtainable by surgical intervention. It has the additional advantages of being less costly, not necessitating the patient’s hospitalization following the therapy and being repeatable.

It can be seen that the use of this blessing for either favorable (good) or unfavorable (bad) purposes depends on human choice, as is the case for all other divine blessings. Thus, it should be our top priority to use for humanitarian causes the blessing of radiation, which has been bestowed on us for our benefit, but which can seem as if it is harmful at first sight.

Notes

1. Al-Bukhari, “Tawhid,” 55; Muslim, “Tawba,” 14-16, Ibn Maja, “Zuhd,” 35.
2. Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Uthman al-Dhahabi, Siyar ‘Alam al-Nubala’, 25 vols. (Beirut, 1992), 1:150.
3. Al-Qushayri, Al-Risala, 133.
4. In other words, one should regard Him as an All-Merciful and All-Forgiving Lord, rather than as an All-Punishing One.
5. Al-Bukhari, “Tawhid”, 15; Muslim, “Tawba,” 1; Al-Tirmidhi, “Dawa’at,” 132.
6. Al-Qushayri, Al-Risala, 134.

The conservation of soil is also important. But as its value has not been properly appreciated until recently, soil has become seriously polluted with chemical substances which can hurt the living species in it. These poisonous chemical substances include cadmium, arsenic, chrome, and mercury at excessive levels, lead, nickel, molybdenum and fluorine at medium levels and boron, copper, manganese and zinc at low levels.

There are a number of sources of these substances which accumulate in subsoil. Tones of such substances are dispersed into the atmosphere as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, the casting of minerals and other industrial activities. Atmospheric processes cause these substances to disperse and mix with the soil first and penetrate into plants later; polluted water and soil consequently cause disastrous problems for construction, the environment, and health.

The level of borax which is available in soil, for instance, is becoming overwhelming due to the extensive use of detergents and fertilizers. Super phosphate, which is a kind of fertilizer, and limestone, which is found in soil, are generally composed of small quantities of cadmium, copper, manganese, nickel and zinc. Cadmium and chrome are utilized in producing metal coatings; cadmium is also used in battery production; and arsenic is utilized in cotton, tobacco and fruit plantations as an insect and weed killer. As products in which these substances are found have been increasingly used in recent years, these substances have been consumed by human beings in higher proportions in their daily air, water and food intakes.

Although presently a partial solution, a method of improving soil by the use of plants has recently been developed and introduced as a clean and permanent solution. Research conducted has proved that plants have important functions in cleaning chemically polluted soil, and significant scientific findings have been obtained about how plants survive in an environment replete with poisonous chemicals.

Plants: The volunteer soil cleaners

The use of plants to eliminate substances which are unfriendly to the environment or to diminish their negative effects on the environment is called “phytoremediation.” Cleaning polluted soil with techniques that necessitate engineering processes is a rather costly operation. On the other hand, certain plant species have been granted the ability to concentrate heavy metals such as zinc, cadmium and nickel, which they take up from the soil, in their stems, shoots and leaves. The parts of these plants containing the concentrations of heavy metals are collected, reduced in volume and are stored for future use.

Plants which are capable of storing metals in themselves are used for soil-cleaning purposes in the mining industry. Bio-mining is defined as obtaining minerals by way of growing plants in polluted or mineralized soils and then harvesting them as soon as they have concentrated a sufficient amount of minerals in their tissues. Plants are burned after being baled and their residual ashes are being sold as mineral ores. Zinc has been produced at a rate of 30–40 % from ashes of the plant thlaspi caerulescens which was grown in a plantation rich in zinc in Pennsylvania.

How plants are employed in soil cleaning

Lately, a number of research projects have initiated on the plant thlaspi caerulescens, which is seen as useful in terms of soil cleaning. Thlaspi is a member of the broccoli and cabbage family and it grows in soils containing high rates of zinc and cadmium. These plants develop wide root formations in soils containing heavy metals; they transfer these heavy metals via their hair-like roots first to their stems and later to other parts, and store those heavy metals in their leaves. Storers like thlaspi are a good model of the mechanism of metal-storing and even shed light onto the biological system which plays a role in this process. The biological composition of these plants has been enriched with genes so that they assume a role in increasing the solubility of heavy metals in soil, in the transfer of metals to their roots, and in producing proteins to play the intermediary in such transfers.

While a typical plant is equipped with a storage capacity of 100ppm (gr per ton) zinc and 1ppm cadmium, thlaspi is created with a storage capacity of up to 30,000 ppm of zinc and up to 1,500ppm of cadmium, without any signs of being poisoned, whereas an ordinary plant may be poisoned with a zinc level of only 1,000ppm or cadmium between 20 and 50ppm. What would it have meant for living beings which are nourished by plants, if all plants had been created with as high a storage capability for heavy metals as that of thlaspi?

It has been noted, while researching the zinc-storage mechanism of thlaspi, that certain parts of the plant have been stimulated for the purpose of transferring zinc. While in ordinary plants gene-decoding of proteins which are charged with zinc transfer is regulated according to their zinc contents, in thlaspi synthesizing of the carrier proteins continues until the zinc contents of its tissues reaches very high levels.

How radioactive cesium is cleaned

It has been found, as a result of research into soils polluted with radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137, that the area polluted by cesium-137 is under the threat of radioactive pollution, even if the effects of pollution that it caused over the soil surface would be lessened. One of the most important reasons for this is that cesium-137 is a long-lasting radioactive isotope with a half-life of 32.2 years.

Phytoremediation is preferable to alternative cleaning methods, which cost much more due to high energy inputs. However, cesium, in the form it is found in soil, is not absorbed by most plants, and ammonium ions cause the dissolution of cesium-137 in soil.

However, amaranthus retroflexus, which is a member of the goose-foot plant family, has been found to be forty times more efficient than other plants tested in cleaning the soil of radioactive cesium. Thus, polluted lands are expected to be cleaned within fifteen years if this plant is grown and harvested two or three times annually.

A plant fed by arsenic

Arsenic is utilized in the production of agro-chemicals that are used to kill weeds and insects in the sub-soil. The fern named pteris vittata has been found to be created with the capacity to store arsenic. When this plant fern was discovered to contain two hundred times more arsenic than the surrounding soil, it was understood that it is fed by arsenic. This discovery is expected to open new horizons in cleaning the agricultural land, especially in industrial and mining areas.

How damage caused by aluminum can be decreased

Aluminum, which is one of the most abundantly available elements (among oxygen, silicon, iron, magnesium, sodium, potassium, aluminum and calcium) in the earth, is among the main components of clay in sub-soil. It does not pose a threat to plants when it has a basic or neuter pH value. However, Al+3 which is a kind of aluminum dissolvable in acidic soils, is poisonous to the extent that it threatens plant roots.

How some plant species, among which are wheat, corn and barley, can be cultivated in acidic soils in spite of high metal rates is being researched. Studies in this context are being conducted on arabidopsis thaliana (the mustard family) whose gene map is prepared and which constitutes a model. A mutated arabidopsis, for instance, has been discovered to have been equipped with the capacity to render aluminum harmless. If the genes which play their role in this process can be determined, then gene transplantation will be possible to increase the resistance of plants which are sensitive to aluminum, such as barley, and barley production will accordingly be increased.

All these facts clearly indicate that the earth is like a great and continuously working factory or a guest house continuously becoming full and empty. The pollution which is an inevitable result of the activities of living creatures is kept under control by micro organisms, plants and animals which are the mirror-bearers of Almighty God’s attribute, al-Quddus, “the All-Pure.” The relations between these living creatures and the universe have been so perfectly programmed that all of them beautifully perform their duties.

References

• Brady, N.C. The Nature and Properties of Soils, 1990, 10th Edition.
• http://www.agclassroom.org/teen/ars_pdf/9earth/2000/06phytoremedation.pdf
• Altunay, Bedirhan. “Biotechnology of the Environment,” 2006, Sizinti, No: 335, p.526–528.

All methods of estimating “time” use the same principle: measuring the velocity of natural processes that show continuity over time. One of the most advanced methods of chronometry today is to use the velocity of quartz crystal vibrations when exposed to an electric field. The wristwatches we wear in our daily life are well-known applications of this method. Another method of measuring time is to measure the rate of decay of radioactive elements.

However, having a process with which to measure is not sufficient. To measure the time that has passed correctly there are three requirements that need to be satisfied. First of all, it is essential that the process is stable and immutable, even during the period before we were able to observe it. Secondly, the beginning state should be known. For example, the length of a candle before being lighted or the amount of water in a cup before being boiled should be known. Thirdly, the process should not be influenced by any outer effects.

Today, all these three factors have been applied in studies of measuring time. But, when the question comes down to Geochronometry (Measurement of geologic time, as through isotopic radioactive decay), they are somehow more difficult to apply. Since the selected process starts before the beginning of history, we do not have methods to observe the process directly or to make sure that these three requirements were met then as today. And this is where the problem starts.

For instance, we can use the salinity of the oceans as a means of measuring the age of the Earth (This method was developed in 1898 by Irish geologist John Joly). This is a promising method, because it is assumed that the amount of salt in the water of the ocean was originally zero, and that salt was propelled by rainwater and rivers from the soil. The encouraging fact about this method is that the amount of salt brought to the oceans by rainwater and rivers is constant (approximately 540 million tons of salt annually). Today, the average density of salt in oceans is nearly 32 grams per liter. By using this ratio, we can calculate the total amount of salt in the oceans as being approximately 50 quadrillion tons. When we divide this number by the amount of salt propelled annually, we can find the age of the Earth in years.

Joly calculated this as being 100 million years using this method. However, considering the study in light of the three requirements mentioned above, the shortcomings of this method are obvious. Firstly, we cannot really be sure that the amount of salt propelled was static in the geological past. There is good reason to think that the climate and annual rainfall might have been significantly different in the past. Ice ages, great droughts, excessive rains, and the undeterminable effects of these factors may have all played a part. Secondly, it is impossible to be sure that the oceans were salt-free at the beginning. They may have contained some salt (recent research carried out in the Atlantic demonstrates the possibility that salt could have penetrated through to the oceans from the magma layer). Thirdly, some external influences may have affected this so-called stable process. There is a large and self-replicating circulation of salt in the atmosphere. New clues lead us to think that the amount of salt in oceans today is stable. As soon as the salt propelled by rivers accumulates, it evaporates at the same speed. While a huge amount of salt evaporates in biological processes, a greater amount penetrates to the depths of the seas.

The Uranium-Lead Method

All the methods that estimate the age of the Earth suffer from the same shortcomings to some degree. The radiometric age estimation method, which can estimate age up to 4.5 million years, consists of measuring radioactive elements that have a long half-life and that maintain their radioactivity over a long period. These elements are uranium and thorium, which decay into helium and lead, rubidium, which decays into strontium, and potassium, which decays into argon. However, as we will see, the Uranium-Lead method has been given great importance, in particular by evolutionists.

The basic principle involved is that radioactive uranium 238, uranium 235, and thorium 232 atoms eventually decay into miscellaneous lead atoms, without any trigger (in addition, uranium 238 decays into helium gas).

Interestingly, the decay rate of each element is definite. Uranium and thorium atoms periodically radiate alpha particles. However, it is unpredictable which atom will decay when. But in any substantial mass of the mineral there will be many billions of atom, and with very large numbers of events the “law of large numbers” operates to produce a statistically predictable result.

The significant part of this theory is that radiogenic lead 206, which is not radioactive and which is decayed from radioactive uranium 238, is found in rocks. However, it differs chemically from lead 204, which is neither radioactive nor radiogenic. To estimate the age of a rock, it is split and the amounts of radioactive uranium and radiogenic lead found are measured. Since the decay rate is known, it is possible to calculate the age of the rock.

The half-life of uranium 238 – one of the isotopes used – is calculated as being 4.5 million years. This means that half of any amount of uranium 238 will decay into lead 206 in 4.5 million years. For instance, if an investigation shows that half of a rock consists of uranium 238, and the other half consists of lead 206, which is the final product of uranium 238, the rock is then 4.5 million years old (although this number has not been calculated by a direct measurement, it is an average age for the crust of the Earth).

If radiogenic lead (lead 206 that has decayed from uranium 238, lead 207 that has decayed from uranium 235, and lead 208 that has decayed from thorium 232) are truly the products of radioactive decay then it is assumed that these rocks contained no radiogenic lead at the very start of the process of rock formation. This is a reliable starting point for calculations. Simi-larly, it is assumed that radiogenic lead cannot penetrate rocks in any other way, and conse-quently there is no process that can affect the decay process. However, when examined carefully, we can see that this is not really the case. A new process in which “natural” lead transforms into a form that cannot be distinguished from radiogenic lead was discovered by experimentation (Cook, 1966). This transformation occurs by natural lead taking hold of free neutrons. These neutrons are atoms that have the energy to transform natural lead into radiogenic lead. Then what is the source of the free neutrons?

The Origin of Lead 208

The source of lead 208 lies in a radioactive mine bed where natural fission (the division of the nucleus of uranium) has taken place. (A uranium bed were such natural fission occurs has been found in The Gabon.) In this uranium bed, while some uranium 238 atoms decay into lead 206, others divide by natural fission and produce neutrons. These neutrons simultaneously transform natural lead (lead 204) and radiogenic lead (lead 206) to lead 208 isotopes in a gradual process. This isotope cannot be distinguished experimentally from lead 208, a product of the alpha decay of thorium 232. Therefore, the lead 208 isotope emerges from two different sources. However, Darwinists state that all lead 208 isotopes detected are the product of thorium 232, which would mean that there is a large amount of radiogenic lead, and subsequently that the process continues for a long time. Significantly, this is a mechanism that would tip our measurements in favor of an “old” Earth.

In the neutron capture process, the isotopic values of lead would be systematically changed: lead 206 would be converted into lead 207, and lead 207 into lead 208 by taking on a single neutron. What is interesting is that lead 208 makes up more than half of the lead in the bed. According to Darwinists, this means that there was a large amount of naturally occurring thorium 232 in that bed, which later changed into lead 208. However, Melvin Cook, who carried out research in uranium beds in Zaire and Canada (the largest uranium beds in the world) states that, although the beds do not contain thorium 232, they do contain a large amount of lead 208. This can only mean that lead 208 results from lead 207 taking hold of a neutron. He also states that all radiogenic lead can be accounted for in this way.

Other people have tried to denigrate Cook, a man who believed in “creation”, and his studies. Among these is the geologist Brent Dalrymple from the U.S. Geological Survey. Neither Dalrymple, who argued that the level of free neutrons were too low to make any significant difference in the number of lead 208 as lead isotopes in the beds, nor could anyone else provide a satisfactory explanation to why, although there was no thorium 232 in the beds, lead 208 was found in huge amounts. Uranium decay not only degrades the most important criteria of a reliable geocronometry method, but it also degrades the criteria of the process, i.e that it is stable, immutable, and not intervened with. Uranium, which naturally emerges as an oxide rather than a metal, and which shows a very high capacity of dissolving in water because of this property, ekes out of its original bed with water. Its effect in age estimation is unpredictable, as while some parts of the bed are poor in uranium, other parts are rich.

The Helium Problem

Beside lead, one of the final products produced in the decay of uranium 238 is radiogenic helium, the atomic weight of which is 4. It is thought that a significant proportion of helium in the atmosphere is radiogenic helium that emerges in the decay process that has continued throughout history. If the uranium-lead age estimation method is reliable, then the amount of helium in the atmosphere must suggest an age in agreement to the age provided by radiogenic lead estimation. However, the ages acquired from the two methods are significantly different. If the Earth were 4.6 billion years old, then there would be roughly 100 trillion tons of radiogenic helium 4 in the atmosphere. Actually, there are only around 3.5 billion tons present – several thousand times less than there should be (0.035 % to be precise).

Writing in Nature on the “mystery” of the Earth’s missing radiogenic helium, Melvin Cook says: “…Hence more than 1,020 grams of helium should have passed into the atmosphere since the ‘beginning.’ Because the atmosphere contains only 3.5×1,015 grams of helium 4, it must also have passed out through the exosphere, and that the present rate of loss through the atmosphere balances the rate of exudation from the lithosphere.”

Cook says that uniformitarian geologists have attempted to explain this discrepancy by assuming that the other 99.96 percent has escaped from Earth’s gravitational field into space – but this process has not been observed. In 1984, Dalrymple argued a mechanism that can explain this difference and that provides a reply to Cook’s proposal: “Banks and Holzer have shown that the polar wind can account for an escape of 2 to 4 million ions/cm2 per second of helium 4, which is nearly identical to the estimated production flux of 2.51.5 million atoms/cm2 per second.”

There are two things that make Banks and Holzer’s findings unsuitable for the purposes to which Dalrymple tries to fit them. First of all, if the Earth really is 4.5 billion years old, then its atmosphere would have to lose helium at a rate somewhere around 1,016 atoms/cm2 per second, or some ten orders of magnitude faster than Dalrymple’s figure, to account for the missing helium.

Secondly, the numbers Dalrymple used were calculated 30 years ago. In that period, most scientists believed that the Earth moved in empty space (i.e., that nothing encapsulated the Earth but emptiness), and that hydrogen and helium atoms escaped to emptiness. New studies have shown that, rather than losing helium, the atmosphere gains a significant amount of helium. Since the Earth rotates around the Sun, it does not move in empty space, it moves in the atmosphere of the Sun, which is made up of mainly helium and hydrogen that have emerged from the nuclear processes that occur on the Sun. According to research, the Earth gains helium in this way as well.

In his book (1987) Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, space scientist James Lovelock writes: “The outermost layer of the air, so thin as to contain only a few hundred atoms per cubic centimeter, the exosphere, can be thought of as merging into the equally thin outer atmosphere of the Sun. It used to be assumed that the escape of hydrogen atoms from the exosphere gave the Earth its oxygen atmosphere. Not only do we now doubt that this process is on a sufficient scale to account for oxygen, but we rather suspect that the loss of hydrogen atoms is offset or even counterbalanced by the flux of hydrogen from the Sun.”

Lovelock mentions hydrogen, not helium. Helium is four times heavier than hydrogen and exists in abundance in the Sun’s atmosphere, since it is the main product of the nuclear fusion process on the Sun. If hydrogen were gained instead of being lost, it would be reasonable to expect this to occur for helium as well. Cook says: “If we take the amount of helium 4 measured in the atmosphere and then apply the radioactive age estimation technique, we will find that the age of the Earth is approximately 175,000 years. This invalidates our reliability criteria; the possible flow of helium from external sources interrupts this process.”

Cook is not alone in his thoughts. In articles published in influential journals, similar suspicions have been stated. Funkhouser and Naughton from the Hawaiian Geophysics Institute calculated the ages of volcanic rocks that had emerged from Mount Kilauea by using the potassium-argon method and calculated them to be nearly 3 million years old. However, it is know that these rocks were formed during a volcanic eruption in 1801. McDougall from the Australian National University calculated the age of lava in New Zealand to be up to 465,000 years old, even though it was known to be less than 1,000 years old (Milton 1997).

As a result, the reliability of radioactive age estimation is doubtful. What is being measured is the amount of products that have decayed, not the rate of decay. It is also difficult to discuss the origin of these products. Subsequently, all radioactive geocronometry methods can be said to be highly flawed and to lack reliability. The only reliable result that emerges from the incompatibility between uranium-lead age and uranium-helium age is the conclusion that radioactive age estimation is totally unreliable. The methods based on the decay of potassium into argon and rubidium into strontium suffer from the above mentioned shortcomings, in addition to others. However, some scientists try hard to advocate one single idea: evolution. The evolution lobby dampens the volume of courageous scientists, such as Milton and Cook, damages their prestige and frightens others by the overwhelming atmosphere they have created. All methods developed to estimate the age of the Earth are full of inconsistencies. Only one among them (based on the radioactive decay of elements, such as uranium) provided an age of millions of years for the Earth. While that single technique was supported enthusiastically by Darwinists, all others were ignored. This was because according to Darwinist theory, evolution required a long geological past in order to display its results in the long term. This propaganda program by the Darwinists was so successful that almost everyone, including scientists from different fields, have come to believe that radioactive age estimation is the only unquestionable and valid method for age estimation. Yet, as we have discussed above, all of these widely accepted beliefs lack sufficient support.

References

• Milton, R., Shattering the Myths of Darwinism. Park Street Press. Vermont, 1997.
• Lovelock, J. E., Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford University Press, 1997.