How old is the earth?

In order to study ocean life, we need to know much about the ocean. If the bumpy surface of the earth were rounded and smoothed like a perfect sphere, the ocean would cover the entire globe to a uniform depth of about 8,000 feet. Fortunately for humans, the land masses are unevenly distributed, and great continents rise above the surface of the ocean.

How old is the earth?

In order to study the ocean, we need to estimate the answer to the question:

how old is the earth?

Is the earth 6000 years old?

In the seventeenth century an eminent Irish churchman, Archbishop James Ussher, declared with enviable assurance that the earth was created in 4004 B.C. The date 4004 B.C. is found in the marginal notes of many King James Versions of Genesis one. Modern scientists have pushed the time back considerably. The most trustworthy dating method is based on the rate at which radioactive elements transform themselves or decay into other elements. Uranium, for example, decays slowly, and at a steady rate that has been measured precisely, to form lead and helium gas.

By analyzing rock samples to determine the proportion of uranium to the breakdown products, geologists have measured the age of the oldest rocks known. On this basis the general accepted age of the earth today is approximately  4 and a half billion years. Unfortunately, only an estimate can be derived.