Nature's Clocks: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything"Radioactivity is like a clock that never needs adjusting," writes Doug Macdougall. "It would be hard to design a more reliable timekeeper." In Nature's Clocks, Macdougall tells how scientists who were seeking to understand the past arrived at the ingenious techniques they now use to determine the age of objects and organisms. By examining radiocarbon (C-14) dating—the best known of these methods—and several other techniques that geologists use to decode the distant past, Macdougall unwraps the last century's advances, explaining how they reveal the age of our fossil ancestors such as "Lucy," the timing of the dinosaurs' extinction, and the precise ages of tiny mineral grains that date from the beginning of the earth's history. In lively and accessible prose, he describes how the science of geochronology has developed and flourished. Relating these advances through the stories of the scientists themselves—James Hutton, William Smith, Arthur Holmes, Ernest Rutherford, Willard Libby, and Clair Patterson—Macdougall shows how they used ingenuity and inspiration to construct one of modern science's most significant accomplishments: a timescale for the earth's evolution and human prehistory. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Chapter 2 Mysterious Rays | 21 |
Chapter 3 Wild Bills Quest | 45 |
Chapter 4 Changing Perceptions | 72 |
Chapter 5 Getting the Lead Out | 101 |
Chapter 6 Dating the Boundaries | 131 |
Chapter 7 Clocking Evolution | 159 |
Chapter 8 Ghostly Forests and Mediterranean Volcanoes | 190 |
Other editions - View all
Nature’s Clocks: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything Doug Macdougall Limited preview - 2009 |
Nature’s Clocks: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything Douglas Macdougall No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
Acasta Gneiss accurate age determinations alpha particles amount analysis analyzed ancient archaeological archaeologists argon ash layers atmosphere atoms Atwater biological calculated calibration curve Cambrian period carbon carbon-14 content chapter Chicago chronology colleagues contain cosmic rays dating methods developed discovery Earth earthquakes Ediacaran Ernie Anderson eruption extinctions figure formed fossils geochronology geological time scale geologists glacial glaciers grains half-life hominid Hutton ice age important isotopes K-T boundary Kelvin known laboratory lead isotopes Libby’s mass spectrometers material measurements ments meteorites million years ago minerals natural Neanderthals nuclear nucleus occur ocean older oldest past Patterson Pleistocene possible potassium-argon dating precise protons radiation radioactive decay radioactive isotopes radiocarbon age radiocarbon dating radiometric dating record researchers Rutherford samples Science scientific scientists sedimentary rocks sediments Smith species Suess techniques tree-ring trees tsunami uncertainty University uranium uranium-lead dating volcanic ash X-rays zircon zircon crystals