this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI 5 Carbon dating? And how we just found remnants of Theia from 4.5 billion years ago? How is that even calculable? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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[–] gaiussabinus@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Long dates are often uranium series dating using zircon crystals and a known baseline that can date things into the billions of years. When zircon is formed it excludes lead and includes uranium. The end of the decay chain of uranium is lead. The lead to uranium ratio will give you the age of the crystal. This means anything that includes that crystal is younger.