MovieChat Forums > Le chat du rabbin (2011) Discussion > Quibble: Carbon Dating

Quibble: Carbon Dating

posted 9 years ago by talkinhorse
2 replies | jump to latest

In the discussion of the age of the Earth and the meaning of the Biblical timescale, the cat mentions that carbon dating indicates a planet that is millions of years old. Carbon dating didn't exist in the era of the story (it was invented in the late 1940's), and the radioactive carbon will be completely depleted for anything older than about 4500 years (so it can't be used to date anything older). The general argument was an interesting one, and there are plenty of facts to be cited, but carbon dating isn't one of them.

[–] belaglik 9 years ago

Good catch! You should suggest that as an anachronism.

[–] ciocio-2 9 years ago

I wondered whether carbon dating science was really so advanced at the time portrayed, and didn't know that, about the depletion affecting how far back one can look (like so many others, I'm more ignorant about science than knowledgeable; not proud of that, just aware). Knowing that doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the movie at all. I even have a little point constructed in my mind, where the cat actually already knows about the capabilities of carbon-dating, before human science experts do; it's a fantasy, after all, and we are discussing a talking cat.

Multiplex: 100+ shows a day, NONE worth watching. John Sayles' latest: NO distribution. SAD.