The earth is probably less than 10,000 years old.

I’ll offer my case, then rebut next round.C1: The Bible is a work of fictionThe *only* evidence my opponent has on his side is the Bible. The idea that the Earth is 6000 years old comes from stringing together: (1) the genealogies of people’s lives from Genesis, (2) the estimate of when the Jews left Egypt in Exodus, and (3) the estimate of when the Temple was built in 1 Kings. [1] To believe that these three texts prove *anything* requires the assumption that these are historically accurate documents [as opposed to recordings of fictional stories passed down through oral tradition]. I will prove that all three are works of fiction, or at the very least, contain dubious information that should cause you to doubt their veracity. You should thus give very little weight to the Bible in your calculation of whether Pro has met his burden to prove a young Earth by a preponderance of the evidence.(1) Genesis is wrongI have four proofs of this:(a) There are two accounts of the Creation story, both of which contradict each other in terms of chronology. [2](b) Genesis contains an account of a talking snake, but snakes do not have vocal cords. [2](c) Genesis contains an account of Noah’s Ark, which says the world’s entire land mass was covered in rain water. However, rain comes from precipitation from the ocean, so it cannot raise sea levels. Melting of the polar ice caps could raise sea levels, but not enough to entirely cover all land. The following picture shows what would happen to North America if all the ice on Earth melted. * * (d) Genesis says that God created man right away, which implies that man did not evolve from a common ancestor with apes. However, fossils have proven there were intermediate species, specifically Homo Habilis and Australopithecus (see below). * * (2) Exodus is wrongThe LA Times reports that “[a]fter a century of excavations” trying to prove the Bible true, “virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus” agrees that there is no evidence that “the Israelites were ever in Egypt, were ever enslaved, ever wandered in the Sinai wilderness for 40 years or ever conquered the land of Canaan under Joshua's leadership." [3](3) 1 Kings is not scientifically accurate1 Kings claims to calculate the circumference of a circle based on its diameter, but it got the value of Pi wrong. [4]These are not documents that were meant to estimate the age of the Earth with scientific precision. Thus, very little weight should be given to Pro’s estimate of the age of the Earth. C2: The Earth is older than 10,000 years(1) Amino acid datingAll biological tissues contain amino acids. All amino acids except glycine have an asymmetric carbon atom, which means that the amino acid can have two different configurations, "D" or "L." With a few important exceptions, living organisms keep all their amino acids in the "L" configuration. When an organism dies, its amino acids begin to change from L to D. Thus, measuring the ratio of D to L in a sample enables one to estimate how long ago the specimen died.Using the amino acid isoleucine, samples have been dated as being several million years old. [5](2) Continental DriftIf you look closely at the west coast of Africa, you’ll notice that it fits perfectly with the east coast of South America. (see video) [6] This is because the continents were at one time part of one giant land mass (see picture). * * The tectonic plates under the various continents caused them to split apart. At the rate that the plates move, it would take at least 200 million years for the continents to reach their current positions after separating. Thus, the Earth is at least 200 million years old. (3) Mitochondrial EveThe mitochondria that a person inherits all come from the ovum produced by their mother. Because mitochondrial DNA contains a region that changes at a predictable rate, scientists can estimate the age of “mitochondrial Eve” - the woman from whom we all inherited our mitochondrial DNA. [8] This Eve lived approximately 200,000 years ago. [8] [Note: mitochondrial Eve is not the first human, but merely the oldest woman with currently living descendants].(4) Cosmogenic radionuclide datingWhen a cosmic ray reaches Earth, it causes exposed rocks to form certain isotopes in its outer layers called “cosmogenic nuclides.” These nuclides are produced at and decay at a known rate. By measuring the concentration of these nuclides, scientists can estimate how long a rock has been exposed to the elements. This method of dating has found rocks that were exposed to cosmic radiation for several millions of years. [9](5) DendrochronologyDendrochronology is a method of scientific dating which is based on annual tree growth patterns. The age of a tree can be found by counting its rings. While no single tree has lived longer than 5,000 years, it is possible to push the chronology back by matching rings in live trees with those in dead trees. Dendrochronology has dated dead trees is some areas as being more than 11,000 years old. [10](6) ErosionIt would take 17 million years for water to form the Grand Canyon through erosion, based on the type of rock that is present at the Grand Canyon. [11] For the Grand Canyon to be formed by Noah’s Flood, like Young Earthers believe, the rocks of the Grand Canyon would need the solubility of granulated sugar.(7) Fission track datingUranium-238 decays to Uranium-235 at a predictable rate. When uranium decays in a crystalline mineral, it leaves certain “damage trails” or tracks. By counting the number of tracks, scientists can estimate the age of certain minerals that contain Uranium. Using this technique, scientists have found minerals that are 23 million years old. [12] (8) Ice layeringAnnual differences in temperature and irradiation cause ice to form differently from year to year, and this generates alternating layers of light and dark ice, much like tree rings. This method is considered a relatively accurate way to measure the age of an ice sheet. The oldest ice layer has been estimated to be 160,000 years old. [13](9) Nitrogen impurities in natural diamondsSynthetic and recently formed diamonds contain very little nitrogen because it takes long periods for the nitrogen to be squeezed into the diamond lattice along with the carbon. Recent research has estimated that it would take between 200 million and 2 billion years to form the amount of nitrogen we have found in some diamonds. [14](10) Radioactive decayRadioactive isotopes decay at a constant rate. Using measurements of radioactive carbon, argon, iodine, lead, neon, etc…, scientists can estimate the age of an item based on how much of the radioactive isotope has decayed. Using this technique, scientists have measured countless objects that are older than 10,000 years. [15]In addition, scientists found coral with a growth rate that would have required a year with 400 days in it. [16] Based on the rate of change in the Earth’s rotation, the last time the Earth had 400 days in a year was 370 million years ago, which is consistent with the radioactive dating of the coral. [16] [1] http://creation.com... [2] http://tinyurl.com... [3] http://tinyurl.com... [4] http://tinyurl.com... [5] Michael D. Petraglia, Ravi Korisettar (1998). Early Human Behaviour in Global Context. Page 63 [6] http://tinyurl.com... [7] Laurie R. Godfrey (1983). "Scientists Confront Creationism." 35-36. [8] http://tinyurl.com... [9] Manz, Lorraine. "In-situ Cosmogenic Nuclides: Their Role in Studying the Age and Evolution of Landscapes" [10] Mark Isaak (2004). "Claim CG010"(TalkOrigins) [11] http://tinyurl.com... [12] http://tinyurl.com... [13] Matt Brinkman (1995). "Ice Core Dating"(TalkOrigins) [14] T. Evans, Zengdu Qi (1981). "The kinetics of the aggregation of of nitrogen atoms in diamond" [15] Chris Stassen (1996-2005)."The Age of the Earth"(TalkOrigins) [16] Wells, John W. (1963). CORAL GROWTH AND GEOCHRONOMETRY. Nature.