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  Although the universe is thought to be about 13.77 billion years old, planet Earth is much younger than that. Current estimates put the age of Earth at around 4.54 billion years, give or take about 50 million years, and like all other bodies in the solar system, Earth formed when a cloud of dust and gas collapsed due to gravity. This means our sun, planets, asteroids and moons are also around the same age. To determine the age of Earth scientists today use a technique called radiometric dating. Ratios of different radioactive isotopes present in samples are measured to estimate its age. There are different kinds of radiometric dating that use different isotopes, including radiocarbon, lead-lead and uranium-lead dating. This technique was developed in the early 20th century and has since then has been constantly finetuned. Through this technique,  meteorites  – bits of rock that have broken off from asteroids or comets in space and fallen to Earth – can be dated. Since a...