Not until the nineteen fifties did scientists, using radioactive dating, place the age of the Earth at over four billion years.
VOA: special.2009.12.01
What if actual result of decay would not follow the sequence of 50% remaining rule in which it would take a shorter period to become inactive in decay instead of that 5730 years, using 5730 years as a base to presume that the decay would last in every half year would simply falsify the age that would be computed through radioactive dating method.