Method to determine the age of the Earth

The scientific world estimated the age of the Earth by the method of determining radioactive isotopes of rocks on the planet and meteorite outside the universe.

Many great scholars in history have tried to find a way to determine the age of the Earth . In 1862, Lord Kelvin, after calculating the cooling time of the Earth from the initial molten state, concluded that the planet we were living in formed 20 to 400 million years ago, according to Earth Sky.

Later, the scientific community determined the age of Earth through layers of rock in lithosphere as geological slices of a mountain. This method is not highly accurate, so by the early 20th century, we still do not have the correct answer. But researchers believe that Earth's age is not millions of years, but billions of years.

The age of the Earth is estimated at 4.5-4.6 billion years.(Photo: NASA).

The method of determining age by radioisotope appeared in the late 1940s and 1950s. Some heavy chemical elements can decay into lighter elements, such as uranium, decayed into lead. Scientists can analyze Earth's crust to calculate the content of uranium and lead. They replaced these values ​​with the half-life into a mathematical equation to calculate the age of the stone.

In the 20th century, researchers conducted tens of thousands of age measurements with radioisotopes, resulting in the Earth being formed about 3.8 billion years ago.

Later, scientists began the method of calculating the age of the Earth by determining the radioactive isotope of the oldest rocks on Earth. In order to increase their accuracy, they also search for meteorites that hit the Earth to measure their radioisotopes. Scientists believe that these meteorites plunged into Earth from an early age, which is about the same age as our planet.

Combining these results, scientists now estimate Earth, meteorites, the Moon and the entire solar system formed 4.5-4.6 billion years ago.

The process of forming Earth in the solar system.(Video: BBC).