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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2007
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Claim CE410:

Physicists only assume that physical constants have been constant over billions of years. In particular, this untestable assumption underlies all radiometric dating techniques.

Source:

Brown, Walt, 1995. In the Beginning: Compelling evidence for creation and the Flood. Phoenix, AZ: Center for Scientific Creation, p. 24.

Response:

  1. The constancy of constants is a conclusion, not an assumption. It is tested whenever possible. For example:

Links:

Ball, Philip, 2003. Lab tests tenets' limits. Nature Science Update, http://www.nature.com/nsu/030428/030428-20.html

SpaceDaily, 2004. Quasar studies keep fundamental physical constant - constant. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cosmology-04i.html

References:

  1. Bize, S. et al., 2003. Testing the stability of fundamental constants with the 199Hg+ single-ion optical clock. Physical Review Letters 90: 150802.
  2. Chand, H., R. Srianand, P. Petitjean and B. Aracil, 2004. Probing the cosmological variation of the fine-structure constant: Results based on VLT-UVES sample. Astronomy and Astrophysics 417: 853. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0401094
  3. Cho, Adrian. 2006. Skewed starlight suggests particle masses changed over eons. Science 312: 348.
  4. Fischer, M. et al., 2004. New limits on the drift of fundamental constants from laboratory measurements. Physical Review Letters 92: 230802.
  5. Fujii, Yasunori et al., 2000. The nuclear interaction at Oklo 2 billion years ago. Nuclear Physics B 573: 377-401. http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9809549
  6. Marion, H. et al., 2003. Search for variations of fundamental constants using atomic fountain clocks. Physical Review Letters 90: 150801.
  7. Musser, George, 1998. Inconstant constants. Scientific American 279(5) (Nov.): 24,28. http://members.tripod.com/unifier2/inconstantconstants.html
  8. Shlyakhter, A. I., 1976. Direct test of the constancy of fundamental nuclear constants. Nature 264: 340. http://sdg.lcs.mit.edu/~ilya_shl/alex/76a_oklo_fundamental_nuclear_constants.pdf
  9. Webb J. K., V. V. Flambaum, C. W. Churchill, M. J. Drinkwater, J. D. Barrow, 1999. Search for time variation of the fine structure constant. Physical Review Letters, 82: 884-887. http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/?9803165

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created 2001-2-18, modified 2007-12-16