Basicly, certain radioactive isotopes of elements break down into "daughter elements" in very predictable rates and ratios.
By counting and adding up the isotopes, this can tell us how much of them were included in the rock when it formed and by comparing the ratio(s) tell us the age.
To tell that it is one, they also use the isotopes. The Earth has a known isotope signature or fingerprint. By comparing that to the canidate, they can tell if it's terrestrial or not. If it isn't, we've gotten good enough to also be able to sometimes tell where in the solar system it came from too.
I hate to correct you, but if you want to date a meteorite, that’s not the best way. Just get to know it. Be natural and yourself, treat it with respect, and have the courage to ask it out. If you’re genuine and sincere it will agree to a date, and if not, it’s not the last meteorite on earth. Move on- respectfully. As for knowing if it is a merorite or not, you really can’t in 2018. Not all meteorites will identify themselves to strangers. If you specifically want to date a meteorite, there are some clues you can use to try and tell- but until they are comfortable enough to share that with you, or you become intimate, you won’t know for sure. If they’ve had surgery you may not be able to tell at all unless they inform you. It’s not important though. Meteorite or not, if you have fun and fit each other’s lives just enjoy it for what it is.
Arguably so. However- when one mentions the age of a thing, they refer to the age of has been in a rough configuration. A chickens egg could have atoms billions of years old, the chickens egg did not exist before last week though, so before that, the egg had no age (at least from our perspective.) If it is eaten, it will become new feces, then new food for microbes, and so on. If it is fertilized, it may become a new born chicken, then an older chicken, and so on. If it is left, it will spoil. It will decompose into new structures, reconfigured into new structures. Hence why we specify the age of the egg and not of the atoms- expiration’s dates that require spectonomy and lab work to determine, and use spans of billions of years and hundreds of decimal places would be inconvenient for our eggs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_dating
Basicly, certain radioactive isotopes of elements break down into "daughter elements" in very predictable rates and ratios.
By counting and adding up the isotopes, this can tell us how much of them were included in the rock when it formed and by comparing the ratio(s) tell us the age.
If I had to guess, they may have used Uranium-Lead, Uranium-Thorium and/or Rubidium-Strontium.
https://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/gtime/ageofearth.html
To tell that it is one, they also use the isotopes. The Earth has a known isotope signature or fingerprint. By comparing that to the canidate, they can tell if it's terrestrial or not. If it isn't, we've gotten good enough to also be able to sometimes tell where in the solar system it came from too.