The age of the Earth
This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method
For everyone
The age of the Earth has been debated for millennia. Calculations based on a literal reading of scripture give a few thousand years; in the 19th century Lord Kelvin found tens of millions of years from a cooling calculation; present-day radiometric dating gives about 4.54 billion years.
For specialists
Patterson (1956) obtained 4.55 ± 0.07 billion years from a single "isochron" of lead isotope ratios in meteorites and terrestrial lead. Kelvin's calculation gave far too short an age because he did not know of radioactive heating and mantle convection. Young-earth creationists argue that decay rates may have changed in the past (e.g. the RATE project). Against this view are measurements showing decay rates to be almost independent of temperature, pressure and chemical environment, and the consistency of the Oklo natural reactor with the physical constants of about 2 billion years ago.
Views on dating
No single date is given because the date is not documented with certainty; the views of different sources are listed.
| Radiometric dating (current geology) | About 4.54 billion years[1][5] |
|---|---|
| Lord Kelvin (1862, cooling calculation) | 20–400 million years, later 20–40 million years[2] |
| Young-earth creationism (literal reading of Genesis) | About 6,000–10,000 years[3][6] |
| Islam (Qur'an) | The earth was created "in two days" (Fuṣṣilat 41:9–12); the length of a "day" is given differently in different verses and no calendar date is given.[7] |
Claims
- The Earth is about 4.54 billion years old.[1]
Evidence
Supporting
Isotope ratios of different meteorites and terrestrial lead fell on a single line (isochron) giving about 4.55 billion years.[1]
Isotopic residues of the natural nuclear reactor at Oklo showed that nuclear-physics constants about 2 billion years ago were almost the same as today.[4]
Challenging
The RATE project argued that data such as helium retention in zircons are better explained by accelerated radioactive decay in the past.[3]
Connections
Sources
- Article (1956). Age of meteorites and the earth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 10(4), 230–237DOI 10.1016/0016-7037(56)90036-9archive
- Article (1862). On the secular cooling of the earth. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 23, 157–170
- Book (2005). Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, Vol. II: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative. Institute for Creation Research / Creation Research Society
- Article (1976). Direct test of the constancy of fundamental nuclear constants. Nature 264, 340DOI 10.1038/264340a0archive
- Book (1991). The Age of the Earth. Stanford University Press
- Book (1650). Annales Veteris Testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti. London
- ScriptureKur'an-ı Kerim, Fussilet 41:9–12quran.comarchive
Search the literature
Look for scholarly work on this topic in other indexes:
Cite this page
Athena contributors. (2026). The age of the Earth. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/dunyanin-yasi/
@misc{athena_dunyanin_yasi,
title = {The age of the Earth},
author = {{Athena contributors}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/dunyanin-yasi/}},
note = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history