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Halo
Name: Rachel
Status: student
Age: 20s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2000-2001
Question:
How would you explain, according to evolutionary theory,
the existence of many millions of atomic decay halos found in granite
that begin their decay sequence with polonium? My understanding is that
polonium is not a naturally occurring element. The phenomenon of
finding decay halos beginning with polonium in solid granite extending
over 20 feet into the earth would be analogous to finding Alka-Selzer
bubbles preserved in an slowly-frozen glass of solid ice--the granite
should have taken too long to cool for there to be any polonium remaining
to decay, especially in the quantities that have been found. The granite
would have to have been formed instantaneously. So how did this happen?
Replies:
Aah, polonium halos. Another favorite creationist argument. The halos in
some rocks that supposedly arise from the rapid decay of many polonium atoms
in the same place supposedly show that the rocks in which they formed had to
solidify in three minutes or less, proving that the earth was created in an
instant.
Well, it's not so simple as that. You can find a much more detailed
explanation at the website http://jblanton.home.mindspring.com/apr1999.htm;
I'll give you a brief version. Polonium is a decay product of radon, which
is formed in several steps from the radioactive decay of uranium. All of
these polonium halos have been found in uranium-rich rocks, so there is
plenty of raw material fom making polonium available over geologic time.
The key thing about radon is that it is a gas, and thus can be fairly mobile
in rock. Say, for instance, that a uranium-bearing rock has a small crack
in it. Over hundreds of millions of years, radon atoms that form from
uranium decay diffuse to the crack, migrate along the crack, and then are
trapped at the end of the crack. The radon decays to polonium, which
settles out on the wall of the crack. The polonium atom then decays,
leaving a trail of damage in the rock. As large numbers of polonium atoms
are deposited in the same spot, the trails of radiation damage form a sphere
- the "polonium halo." So it is not necessarily true that "the granite
would have to have been formed instantaneously."
Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director
PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois
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