Polonium Halo FAQs
reationist Robert Gentry has
argued that ring-shaped discoloration haloes in primordial
granite rocks are the result of damage from alpha-particle
emission by radioactive isotopes of the element
polonium (Po).
Since radiogenic polonium has a very short half-life
(usually measured in fractions of a second), Gentry argues
that, if granite takes thousands to millions of years to
form as mainstream geology believes, any polonium
originally present would have decayed away long before the
granite could have formed and could not have produced these
haloes. Therefore, he feels that their existence is
evidence for an instantaneous and recent creation of these
granite rocks, and by extension the Earth. The following
articles point out the flaws in Gentry's argument.
- "Polonium Haloes"
Refuted
- Professional geologist Tom Bailleul takes a second look
at Gentry's claimed polonium haloes, arguing that there is
no good evidence they are the result of polonium decay as
opposed to any other radioactive isotope, or even that they
are caused by radioactivity at all. Gentry is taken to task
for selective use of evidence, faulty experiment design,
mistakes in geology and physics, and unscientific
principles of investigation and argument style.
- Evolution's Tiny Violences:
The Po-Halo Mystery
- Amateur scientist John Brawley investigated Gentry's
claims directly by studying local rock samples, and
concluded that there is no good evidence that these
"polonium" haloes are actually produced by polonium at all,
as opposed to longer-lived radionuclides such as radon or
uranium.