![]() ![]() Can you see why it would not be valid for this case as time increases? Now, we can verify through direct substitution for each equation that the solutions are and where Note that is also a valid solution, so we could have chosen for our constant. For many decades, the proclamations of this irrefutable icon of science did not sit well with geologists or with Darwin. His conclusion was a range of million years, but most likely about million years. ![]() Darwin’s view was that evolution needed many millions of years to take place, and he made a bold claim that the Weald chalk fields, where important fossils were found, were the result of million years of erosion.Īt that time, eminent physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) used an important partial differential equation, known as the heat diffusion equation, to estimate the age of Earth by determining how long it would take Earth to cool from molten rock to what we had at that time. At about the same time, Charles Darwin had published his treatise on evolution. (a) William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), 1824-1907, was a British physicist and electrical engineer (b) Kelvin used the heat diffusion equation to estimate the age of Earth (credit: modification of work by NASA).ĭuring the late 1800s, the scientists of the new field of geology were coming to the conclusion that Earth must be “millions and millions” of years old. ![]()
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