Radioisotope rock daters know full well that they can’t be certain of the original condition of the rock, the original ratios of radioactive material to the stable end-product materials in the rock, nor can they know with certainly that rates of radioactive decay were not different in the past, nor the effect of water leaching on the radioactive/stable ratios, so although it’s called a science it’s actually projection followed by hope, that those factors have not caused wildly inaccurate dating results.
