How carbon 14 dating is done?

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How carbon 14 dating is done?

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Answer 1 · 2016-02-29T17:05:55

The process is as described below.

Explanation:

Carbon-14 dating is used for (i) carbon-14 decays slowly in a living organism to nitrogen (half life 5730 years) (ii) amount of carbon-14 lost is continually replenished as long as the organism takes in air or food (however, once the organism dies, it ceases to absorb carbon-14).

Hence, it is a good way of determining the age of certain archaeological artifacts of biological origin (could be bone, fiber, wood, plant remnants etc.) up to about 50,000 years old.

If a fossil has say 25% of carbon-14 as compared to living sample than it is 11460 years old (as it has one-fourth carbon it is 5730*2=11460 years old).

General formula for time $t$ $t$ is $(\frac{5730}{- 0.693}) ln (\frac{N_{t}}{N_{0}})$ $(5730/-0.693)ln(N_t/N_0)$ . As in the above example $(\frac{N_{t}}{N_{0}} = 0.25)$ $(N_t/N_0=0.25)$ and $ln 0.25 = - 1.386$ $ln0.25=-1.386$

$t = (\frac{5730}{- 0.693}) \cdot (- 1.386) = 5730 \cdot 2 = 11460$ $t=(5730/-0.693)*(-1.386)=5730*2=11460$ years.

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How carbon 14 dating is done?

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