Blog Post 8: The Clean Room

In this episode, Neil DeGrasse Tyson examines how science is used to determine the age of the earth. Tyson first describes how the earth was formed and then discusses how we can use asteroids to help date the earth and examine how the earth was several million years ago. Tyson then discusses the work of some scientists to help date the earth via Uranium’s half-life. Although the Uranium was tainted with lead which lead to inconclusive results. These scientists were able to remove the lead and dated the earth as about 4.5 Billion years old. These tests were also used to determine that lead is poisonous to humans and Tyson wraps up this episode by empathizing that studying nature helps us avoid fateful issues.

I liked this episode because it goes into the processes to age elements of the earth and I found the story of lead-based Uranium interesting. Overall, I feel like this episode emphasizes the important of science to help humankind learn more about not only the Cosmos, but the deadly nature of the unknown.