What dating method is commonly used to date minerals that are billions of years old?

Uranium-lead dating is a highly reliable method for dating minerals that are billions of years old due to the long half-lives of the isotopes involved. This technique utilizes the decay of uranium isotopes into lead isotopes; specifically, uranium-238 decays to lead-206 and uranium-235 decays to lead-207. Since uranium has a half-life that can extend into billions of years, it is particularly useful for determining the ages of the oldest rocks and minerals on Earth.

The precision of uranium-lead dating allows for the construction of geological time scales and understanding the history of the Earth, making it an essential tool in geology. The stability of the isotope ratios measured in zircon crystals (a common mineral found in many types of rocks) further enhances the effectiveness of this dating method, allowing scientists to date samples to extreme accuracy.

In contrast, carbon dating is not suitable for ancient geological samples because its half-life is much shorter (approximately 5,730 years), making it effective only for dating more recent organic materials. Potassium-argon dating is useful for dating volcanic rocks and archaeological specimens since it also has a longer half-life, but it typically is not as precise as uranium-lead dating for extremely ancient materials. Rubidium