Carbon 14 is continuously made in our upper atmosphere by the
conversion of 14N to 14C (nitrogen 14 to carbon 14) by the
following reaction,
14N + e- ---> 14C
This carbon 14 combines with oxygen to make CO2 which is then
taken up by plants, thus entering the carbon cycle. After 14C is
made it begins to decay by the opposite process, decaying back to
nitrogen.
14C ---> 14N + e-
This process of conversion and decay will, after time, reach
equilibrium. There is very good evidence that we have been in
this equilibrium position for at least several thousand years (10
to 20,000 years at least), and probably much longer.
On a personal note, I find it odd that we trust the use of 14C
dating to find the age of old Biblical manuscripts, and pieces of
wood that are purportedly from the ark, and other Biblical
artifacts but distrust the methods when the same process is used
to date objects to be much older than our world view allows. We
can't have it both ways.
On another note. The discussion within this group about dating
and young earth creationism has occured several times in the
past. It has been my experience that Christians tend to believe
Christians when they report what they have found, but
unfortunately Christians can be wrong to. I have gone to the
library and read a large number of articles that have been cited
by YEC's to prove that the earth is young and in every instance
(quite a bold statement, but in my case it was true) I found that
the articles were either misquoted, taken out of context, or that
the information was carefully selected to show a worst case.
Over the past few years I have been collecting these articles and
now have quite a collection. I am sad to say that I have not yet
found any evidence at all that the earth is young, and I have
looked. Kurt Wise and I once had a rather heated debate about
14C right here within this group and in the end I think that it
was found that there was no evidence that 14C could be used to
set a limit on the age the creation.
I am very interested in these issues and would be interested in
hearing any evidence anyone wishes to put forth about the
relative youth of the earth. I am not opposed to the idea, I
just find no scientific evidence for it.
Steve