Carbon dating doesn t
The older an organism's remains are, the less beta radiation it emits because its C-14 is steadily dwindling at a predictable rate.
So, if we measure the rate of beta decay in an organic sample, we can calculate how old the sample is. Question: Kieth and Anderson radiocarbon-dated the shell of a living freshwater mussel and obtained an age of over two thousand years.
ICR creationists claim that this discredits C-14 dating. Answer: It does discredit the C-14 dating of freshwater mussels, but that's about all.
Kieth and Anderson show considerable evidence that the mussels acquired much of their carbon from the limestone of the waters they lived in and from some very old humus as well.
Carbon normally occurs as Carbon-12, but radioactive Carbon-14 may sometimes be formed in the outer atmosphere as Nitrogen-14 undergoes cosmic ray bombardment.
Therefore it should come as no surprise that creationists at the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) have been trying desperately to discredit this method for years.Perhaps no concept in science is as misunderstood as "carbon dating." Almost everyone thinks carbon dating speaks of millions or billions of years.But, carbon dating can't be used to date either rocks or fossils. Carbon dating is like trying to tell time with only one hand of a clock. That the present carbon clock figures may not be final was recognized by the symposium, for the Times reported: “Carbon dating techniques may be subject to revision later if differences in the natural rate of formation of the radioactive isotope can be detected or if anomalies in the rate of carbon utilization by growing materials are discovered, it was suggested.” Radioactive isotope is many times inconsistent.