They focused on argon, a gas that almost never chemically reacts with other elements. The researchers examined two different isotopes of argon: the lighter argon-36 and the heavier argon-38.

Slipski and his coauthors examined the abundance of two argon isotopes, argon-36 and its heavier sibling argon-38. Because of that slight difference in mass, the isotopes tend to separate out over ...

Now, by analyzing the properties of argon-34, nuclear scientists calculated the ratios of various sulfur isotopes produced in both types of stellar explosions.

Argon dating is an advancement of the long-used potassium-argon (K-Ar) dating method. Both techniques use the decay of unstable 40K to stable 40Ar. Potassium, including the 40K nuclide, is present ...

However, that ratio is lower than the solar system's original ratio of 5.5-to-1, as estimated from argon-isotope measurements of the sun and Jupiter.