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The carbon 14 method for assessing the age of an object is based upon the measurement of the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 found in all living tissues. Every living organism, whether plant or animal, collects carbon 12 and the radioactive carbon 14. When an organism dies, the carbon 14 and carbon 12 accumulation stops but the radioactive carbon 14 decays to nitrogen. The ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 in a sample can be measured, giving an indication of the date of death.
The greater the ratio of C14 to C12, the younger the age
The less the ratio of C14 to C12, the older the sample
Candle in the Wind
"The principle behind radiometric dating is fairly simple. We can illustrate it by reference to a candle which is found burning in a room. From the present and original sizes of the candle and the rate at which it is burning, we can calculate how long it has been alight. For example, consider the case when it is 4 cm long and was originally 10 cm in length… If it is burning at the rate of 1 cm an hour, then the 6 cm that have disappeared would have taken (6 cm) / (1 cm/hour) = 6 hours.
But there are several possible sources of doubt or error here. How do we know that it was 10 cm long originally? How do we know that it was always burning at the same rate? (A draught could cause it to burn faster!) If we do not know the original length, we could (theoretically) collect all the soot and fumes formed and weigh them. That would enable us to determine the weight lost (and so the length) of the candle. But we would have to be sure none escaped and there was no soot in the room already!
The same principle is true for radiometric dating. We need to know the rate of decay and the original amount of material. If we cannot know that (because the event was long before scientists measured it!), then we must know how much material was formed from it. Even then, as with the candle, we must be sure that none of that material escaped."
Dr. J. Peet - Origins - March 1997 p.4
"The dating laboratory is not measuring a date directly. It is measuring the relative amounts of two radio isotopes [parent and daughter]. Since one may be formed from the other, and the present rate of this transmutation can be estimated, the results may be used to derive an age. One has to assume that all of the daughter element was formed as a result of decay of the parent element and that no daughter element was originally present in the rock. This assumption cannot, of course be verified. One also has to assume that the rate of decay has been constant over vast periods of time and has not been affected by a flux of high energy particles at any time in the earth's past .... One has further to assume that no parent or daughter element has migrated into or out of the sample during its history. Since many of the radiometric processes involve gases and water soluble elements, this assumption is also unwarranted." Dr. D. Rosevear - Creation Science p.92
"It will never be possible to prove scientifically whether the earth and universe are old or young. All calculations involving processes which antedate recorded history must be based on assumptions which can never even be tested, let alone proved, scientifically."
Dr. Henry Morris - What is Creation Science? p.286
"When the blood of a seal freshly killed at McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic was tested by Carbon-14, it showed the seal had died 1,300 years ago." Antarctic Journal, Vol.6 - (1971) p.211
The illustrated Origins Answer Book p.60
Errors in Time
"In the twentieth century, the dates allotted to rocks by Hutton have seemingly been confirmed by radiometric dating. The
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