Carbon-14 dating

Definition

Carbon-14 dating is a method used to determine the age of an object containing organic material by measuring the amount of carbon-14 it contains. This isotope decays over time, and its half-life allows for estimation of the object's age.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Carbon-14 has a half-life of approximately 5,730 years.
2. It is effective for dating objects up to about 50,000 years old.
3. Carbon-14 is constantly created in the atmosphere through the interaction of cosmic rays with nitrogen.
4. Living organisms incorporate carbon-14 during their lifetimes, but stop absorbing it once they die.
5. The ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in a sample is measured to estimate its age.

Review Questions

• What is the half-life of carbon-14 and how does it affect carbon-14 dating?
• Why can carbon-14 dating only be used for objects that were once living?
• How does the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 help determine the age of an object?

Related terms

Half-Life: The time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay.

Radioactive Decay: The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation.

Isotope: Variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron number but have the same number of protons.