Does neutron radiation explain the Shroud of Turin? || Carbon Dating series, Ep 4

The long awaited episode 4 of our radiocarbon dating series: the radiation hypothesis! In this episode, we'll be covering the neutron irradiation hypothesis that purports to explain the medieval radiocarbon date of the Shroud of Turin, proposed primarily by Bob Rucker.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
1:29 - Summary of series so far
4:47 - The Neutron Irradiation Hypothesis
4:50 - Background on C14 production
7:00 - High level view of generic radiation hypotheses
9:30 - Bob Rucker's hypothesis
15:00 - Bob's data (MCNP simulation)
21:40 - Evidence for the hypothesis
22:31 - Evidence 1: Slope of the dates
27:55 - Evidence 2: Sudarium of Oviedo
32:09 - Evidence 3: Depleted C13/Nitrogen on cloth
34:50 - Special guest!
49:45 - Summary of the hypothesis & evidence
53:10 - Rating the hypothesis
55:08 - Explanatory Scope
56:37 - Explanatory Power
57:20 - Simplicity
58:15 - Conservativeness
1:00:14 - Final rating
1:03:24 - Outro

#shroudofturin #christianity #history #atheism

[RevolutionibusOrbiumCoelestium]

I clicked on this video because a guy in a bow tie talking about neutron radiation, what’s not to like? 🖖🐸

[borisbauwens]

Hi, I'm a new subscriber, I'm going through this series chronologically (still only at Episode 4), and I have some specific questions about the radiation hypothesis. If they were already adressed, I'll get to them eventually, but I'm curious and impatient.

I'm much more up to date with YEC lore than the Shroud, so when I heard this idea that Jesus was essentially a nuclear reactor, it immediately made me think of two things:
The Heat Problem (thanks Gutsick Gibbon)
Oklo (thanks Dr Dan)

Both seem to offer testable parts of the hypothesis, but my intuition needs data that I don't have.
What's the proposed power (in Watt) for what time? To multiply them to get the Joules, and then take the estimated volume of a tomb and heat capacity of air, to calculate the temperature of the air in the tomb. And compare that to, say, the combustion temperature of linen.

On the other hand, Oklo. Unless these magically aligned neutrons also magically only target N14 and/or C13, surely ALL shroud atoms undergo neutron flux and ALL atoms that can capture or fission from neutrons will have isotope ratios affected.
The correspondence of entire series of isotopic ratios and induced decay chains at the Oklo natural reactor is what convinced us that this was a natural supercritical fission event in natural uranium deposits.
Which atoms, besides C14, in bloody linen would you expect to change isotopic ratios under this exact neutron flux?

[kouos]

Jesteś po prostu zajebisty, ziomuś!!! Klasa 🙌

[richardstanleyjr]

Thank you very much. I am generally inclined to believe the Shroud is authentic, but ultimately, I just want to know what the truth is. We need more skeptics like you scrutinizing authenticist hypotheses. Your style of skepticism is quite suitable for this topic. In particular, it is good to hear you say at the very beginning that you do not rule out the possibility of a miracle involved with the Shroud because I don't think you could fairly analyze these hypotheses if you weren't open to the possibility of a miracle. But admittedly, it can be too easy sometimes to just say "miracle" and ignore or distort scientific evidence that could detract for a particular hypothesis. Hypotheses need to be tested, and in my view that is what you are doing. Thank you again.

[RustyWalker]

Will you cover the x-ray one that hit the headlines last month that all apologists went mad over?

[RealSeekers]

I'm gonna by pass the miracles plausibility discussion (for now lol), but there are two things to say here. The first is on the Sudarium, I don't think it is fair to say that Bob's theory is compatible with having the Sudarium wherever his calculations produced a 700 A.D. date (or thereabouts) and it's not true that he has no data to back up his assumptions about their association. With the latter, Bob is utilizing the forensic evidence to conclude, as a given, that the two cloths were indeed associated with the same corpse and thus would have been in the same tomb, from there it seems there are some places that are just implausible as places where the cloth would have been such as on the roof, on the side walls or on the floor so if the 700 A.D. dates were on the roof, I think Bob wuld have seen issues for his theory. Additionally, we have Scriptural evidence as to the placement of the head cloth next to the head "in it's place". One side is cut off by the rock wall and is unlikely that the cloth would be placed on that side of the bench and so the only historically plausible location for the head cloth to fit the Scriptural data, historical data and forensic data just coincidentally produces the required 700 A.D. date for the Sudarium that the C-14 testing confirms for it- that is not something with zero evidential weight, but I take your point that there is some degree of limited flexibility whereby Bob model could be accommodated by moving the cloth to some degree at least.

Also, someone mentioned in the chat, I'm glad you guys addressed Fanti's blood work- I'd let him know about it since he asked me, but unfortunately he has banned me from SSG for doing the devil's work because I'm friends with and host skeptics on my channel- my crime was simply having Hugh Farey and David Falk on my show, I associate with "demons" apparently and so I was purged for being as bad as you skeptics; so I can't inform him of your response now. That said, Fanti's paper is not about C-13 at all but the lack of nitrogen that converted into C-14 via the neutron flux. So I have no idea how relevant John's retort is to Fanti's actual paper or argument- maybe there is still some relevance?

[MichaelWizard-dtve]

why would rising from the dead cause the body to emit neutrons? This is just too far fetched to take seriously.

[patrycjan]

i'm waiting for an episode about wide angle x ray scattering!

[chrise]

Thanks for another great video! At some point could you please address the claim that AB blood type was only confined to Jews in the middle east back in either 1stC or middle ages? If you haven't already. Thanks

[dominiqueubersfeld]

If you believe in a miracle like the Resurrection, then why not believe in time travel? The simplest explanation is that Jesus was buried in a shroud beamed from the future and made 12 centuries after his death.

[discoveringthegardenofeden]

I fall into this series, but:
--What happens to Linen and its Carbon 14 ratio when it is exposed to the smoke of fires?
This "smoked cloth" underwent multiple building fires from which it had to be rescued during the Middle ages and last century.
Do 'smoking experiments' exist which evaluate how they (don't) change C14 ages?

--Why is it not mentioned that the samples come from an area which, even before the sample was taken in this location, was suspected to be a repair from the Middle Ages and as such was excluded by the researcher protocol to select as a sampling area?

--On radiation: the radiation was very directed. Evidently. There is no reason to assume there would have to be a gradient along the center line.
The scientist is just proposing a conjecture. There is no need to ridicule him.

--Everyone agrees sample size is too small, even for the C14 dating (possibility of repair), but non destructive methods have now been used.

[timothymulholland]

What a crock! Wasn't the forger discovered? Didn't he confess. Wasn't the original a two-pirece affair. Give me a break!