The Strange Case of Solar Flares and Radioactive Decay Rates

DarkKnightRadick writes "Current models for radioactive decay have been challenged by, of all sources, the sun. According to the article, 'On Dec 13, 2006, the sun itself provided a crucial clue, when a solar flare sent a stream of particles and radiation toward Earth. Purdue nuclear engineer Jere Jenkins, while measuring the decay rate of manganese-54, a short-lived isotope used in medical diagnostics, noticed that the rate dropped slightly during the flare, a decrease that started about a day and a half before the flare.' This is important because the rate of decay is very important not just for antique dating, but also for cancer treatment, time keeping, and the generation of random numbers. This isn't a one time measurement, either. 'Checking data collected at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island and the Federal Physical and Technical Institute in Germany, they came across something even more surprising: long-term observation of the decay rate of silicon-32 and radium-226 seemed to show a small seasonal variation. The decay rate was ever so slightly faster in winter than in summer.'"

Comments

Re:Earth Date

[Kagura]

... they came across something even more surprising: long-term observation of the decay rate of silicon-32 and radium-226 seemed to show a small seasonal variation.

Chances are it's just seasonal effects on the testing equipment, with varying temperatures and humidity levels.

Re:Just to pre-empt it...

[WilliamGeorge]

I know that was written somewhat tounge-in-cheek, and that on its own this does not demonstrate a significant enough change vis-a-vie the common age-dating methods... but what it *does* do is call into question the very premise that those methods are based on. If research bears out these ideas, then other solar activity in the past could easily have affected things - either to make the apparent age of the earth greater or less. It seems that the more we study the more we find out that these things humanity has been 'sure of' at points in history are just plain wrong: the earth isn't flat, the earth isn't the center of the solar system, and maybe the earth isn't billions of years old...