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The traditional answer to this question is 6,000 years according to religious texts, but as these documents have traded hands innumerable times and been revised to promote the powers of various leaders (such as the King James Bible), they cannot be taken as scientifically accurate.

The Scientific American helps shed light on the process that took us from religious explanations to scientific ones:

"It was not until 1926, when (under the influence of Arthur Holmes, whose name recurs throughout this story) the National Academy of Sciences adopted the radiometric timescale, that we can regard the controversy as finally resolved. Critical to this resolution were improved methods of dating, which incorporated advances in mass spectrometry, sampling and laser heating. The resulting knowledge has led to the current understanding that the earth is 4.55 billion years old."

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Kevin Stringer

Lvl 13
5y ago

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