How did clair patterson determine the age of earth

Suppose a comet has an orbital period of 309.1 years around the sun. what is it’s average distance from the sun?

Ascientist notices that an oil slick floating on water when viewed from above has many different colors reflecting off the surface, making it look rainbow-like (an effect known as iridescence). she aims a spectrometer at a particular spot and measures the wavelength to be 750 nm (in air). the index of refraction of water is 1.3

On a mild saturday morning while people are working inside, the furnace keeps the temperature inside the building at 23degreesc. at noon the furnace is turned off, and the people go home. the temperature outside is a constant 16degreesc for the rest of the afternoon. if the time constant for the building is 3 hr, when will the temperature inside the building reach 18degreesc? if some windows are left open and the time constant drops to 2 hr, when will the temperature inside reach 18degreesc?