This has always been a tricky question for the researchers and scientists. There are many approaches to calculate the scientific age of the earth. Some researchers believe the Earth is about 6,000 years old while others believe that it is as old as 4.56 billion years. The age of the oldest rocks on the Earth has been found to lie somewhere between these two assumptions. Calculating a precise date of the Earth’s formation is not possible so many indirect evidences are used to calculate an estimate based on particular time phase divisions and their lengths.
Earth’s age according to the traditional approach
The earth is considered young when viewed under a traditional lens (until the 19th and 20th centuries). According to the old approach, the earth is 70 million years old.
Recent philosophies
To contradict the traditional evidences for calculating the earth’s age, several facts were highlighted that stated that the Earth’s evolution was not possible in such a short of time. With this, the age of the Earth was considered much older than what it was believed to be. With the recent developments of radiometric dating for calculations, the age of the Earth is now believed to be around 4.6 billion years. The concepts used under this system too have been viewed as controversial and unreasonable by many researchers.
Modern approach
As we entered the 21st century, the problem of calculation of the Earth’s age has become more complicated for researchers and scientists. New and more challenging Natural Chronometers are being identified for calculating the age of Earth. There is a tussle between those who believe that the Earth is old and those who believe that Earth is young.
The difficult question about the age of the Earth can be best explained by the evidences contained in the earth’s stratographic (a branch of geology that studies age of rocks and layers on the earth) record, which is still not complete but is nearly accurate enough.
