Nuclear technology applied to cosmology

Cosmology is the part of astronomy that deals with the general laws, origin, and evolution of the universe. It covers the period from the beginning of rock formation to the present day.

The measurement of the ages of stars is based on their masses, chemical compositions, and temperatures and the comparison of their variation over time, depending on the particular type of star. One problem to remember is that all these models refer to the Sun.

By studying the radioactivity and radio component ratios of solar system meteorites arriving on Earth, we can confirm the age of our nearby universe and derive a comparative method of determining the ages of meteorite products.

Meteorites from the solar system that reach the earth are studied. Their radioactivity and the relationships between their radio components make it possible to confirm the age of our near universe, and a comparative method of determining the ages of the products that make up the meteorites is deduced from this.
In the case of rocks, the most commonly used dating method is based on the uranium-lead comparison. Zircons are silicates occurring in igneous rocks that sometimes incorporate small amounts of uranium in their crystalline structures. This uranium contains the radioisotopes uranium-238 (half-life 4.5 billion years) and uranium-235 (half-life 704 million years). Both decay to a stable form of lead.

For younger rocks and objects of human origin, other radioisotopes are used. One of them is based on the decay of potassium to argon. The most important part of human history, some 60,000 years, is written in carbon isotopes, stable carbon-12, and radioactive carbon-14 (half-life of 5,730 years).