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Could the potassium-argon method of radiometric dating be used to date rock that is estimated to be formed 1000 years ago?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
A small correction first. Radiometric dating techniques do not date the whole rock. K-Ar dating, for example, dates the last time that the particular mineral you are working with, passed through its crystallization point from a previously hotter condition.
Lavas which chill quickly are good for study, whilst some other metamorphoses have a long cooling curve and a less certain date.
Commonly, one of the micas is used for this as they contain a reasonable quantity of K. However, the half-life for this dating method is about 1.5x109 years.
The presence of an 40Ar decay is signalled by the emission of a positron (inverse beta decay); but in 90% of the decays, 40Ca is formed, with an electron emission (beta decay).
In practice, after only 1000 years, the target decay signal would be difficult to separate from the background noise, for very little 40Ar would have yet formed.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
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In order for radiometric dating to be accurate what must be true about the daughter material at the time a rock formed?
There must be more daughter isotopes than parent isotopes for a rock to be younger
The absolute age of a rock is the approximate number of years ago that the rock formed The absolute age of an igneous rock can best be determined by?
It is best determined by radiometric dating techniques which measure the decay of radioactive elements.
How do scientists best determine the age of the earth?
The best estimate for Earth's age is based on radiometric dating of fragments from the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite. From the fragments, scientists calculated the relative abundances of elements that formed as radioactive uranium decayed over billions of years.
How are the ages of rocks estimated?
There is a wealth of dating techniques for rocks. Very young materials (mostly soft sediments) are dated via 14C-dating, warve counting, tree-ring counting, lichenometry (sizes of lichen), thermoluminescence and stuff like that but for actual rock material one usually takes biostratigraphy or radiometric dating. Biostratigraphy is a relative dating technique and can be applied only to sedimentary rocks and very slightly metamorphosed sediments as it relies on the identification of specific fossil materials that were only present at a given relatively short period of time in the geologic past. In that way one can for example define that a rock is Jurassic or Cretaceous when one finds a belemnite or it has to be paleozoic if there are trilobites etc. The absolute ages are mostly derived from radiometric dating which relies on measuring the isotopic composition and certain element ratios in the rock. Common rock dating techniques are U-Pb dating, Rb-Sr, Ar-Ar, U-Th disequilibrium and others. Radiometric dates do not necessarily give an information about when the rock was formed (crystallized from a magma) but may instead bear information about when the rock experienced metamorphism or cooled down below a certain temperature.
Relative dating methods help scientists to?
Identify the order in which rock units formed
When is the radiometric clock set in the lifetime of a rock?
The radiometric clock is set when the rock is formed. Because this is when it sets, radiometric dating is used by geologist to find out when the rock was formed.
The radiometric dating of an igneous rock provides .?
the date for which the rock formed
What type of dating involves half-lives and can tell in which geologic period a rock was formed?
This is called absolute, isotopic, or radiometric dating.
How old are the Luna maria?
Radiometric dating of moon rocks from the maria indicate that they formed about 3.16 to 4.2 thousand million years ago.
In order for radiometric dating to be accurate what must be true about the daughter material at the time a rock formed?
There must be more daughter isotopes than parent isotopes for a rock to be younger
What is an example of radiometric dating?
Carbon 14 dating is the best known example of radiometric dating, but there are many others. Another example of radiometric dating is the dating of the age of geological formations on earth. The oldest known rocks on the earth that have been analyzed, have been dated back some 4.404 billion years.
The absolute age of a rock is the approximate number of years ago that the rock formed The absolute age of an igneous rock can best be determined by?
It is best determined by radiometric dating techniques which measure the decay of radioactive elements.
How can fossils be used to determine the relative ages?
They are able to tell the order in which events occured, NOT how long ago they occured.Identify the order in whicih rock units formed(:rocks makes babys with apenis
The absolute age of a rock is the approximate number of years ago that the rock formed. The absolute age of an igneous rock can best be determined by?
It is best determined by radiometric dating techniques which measure the decay of radioactive elements.
How is radioactive decay used to date rocks?
Radiometric dating uses the half-life of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes and their products to date rocks. For example the half-life of uranium is 4.5 billion years. Half of the uranium will turn to lead.
Could the potassium argon method of radiometric dating be used to date rocks that are estimated to have formed 1000 years ago?
No. Potassium decays to argon, and geologists measure argon as the daughter material. The half life is too long for 1000 years to give sensible results.
How do scientists best determine the age of the earth?
The best estimate for Earth's age is based on radiometric dating of fragments from the Canyon Diablo iron meteorite. From the fragments, scientists calculated the relative abundances of elements that formed as radioactive uranium decayed over billions of years.
