Therefore, a radiocarbon year would not correspond to an actual year.As explained in recent measurements show that the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 has been building up in the atmosphere.
Plants take in carbon dioxide, incorporating in their tissues both carbon-14 (unstable) and normal carbon-12 (stable) in the same proportion as they occur in the atmosphere .
Carbon-14 then moves up the various food chains to enter animal tissueagain, in about the same ratio carbon-14 has with carbon-12 in the atmosphere.
The key questions then are: Has the atmospheric ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 changed in the past, and if so, why and how much?
The assumption usually made, but rarely acknowledged, is that the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the atmosphere before the industrial revolution has always been the sameabout one in a trillion.
If the atmosphere's ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 has doubled since the flood and we did not know it, radiocarbon ages of things living soon after the flood would appear to be one half-life (or 5,730 years) older than their true ages.
If that ratio quadrupled, organic remains would appear 11,460 (2 x 5,730) years older, etc.
Half of it will decay in about 5,730 years to form nitrogen.
Half of the remainder will decay in another 5,730 years, and so on.
Cosmic radiation striking the upper atmosphere converts about 21 pounds of nitrogen each year into radiocarbon (carbon-14).
Most carbon-14 quickly combines with oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, which then spreads throughout the atmosphere.
Until recent years, scientists who believe in creation haven't had the necessary resources to explore radiometric dating in detail.