How is the relative age of fossils determined?

Answer 1

It is generally determined by how long it has waisted away or if it has reached a certain disintegrating phase (an example would be a half-life). By learning how long a fossils minerals and dead cells have wasted away biologists can learn how old a fossil is relative to a period or our own time on earth.

Answer 2

it can be determined by radiometric dating
* It is done by Carbon dating. Carbon is the basic basic building block of life and has an amazing memory. Rays of the Sun which are radioactive enter our atmosphere and collide with Nitrogen atoms to create the radioactive isotope, Carbon-14. * We have both Carbon-12 and Carbon-14 in our bodies at all times and we continue to gain more every day that we live. Fossils are dated this way. * The Carbon-14 decays with its half-life of 5,700 years, while the amount of Carbon-12 remains constant in the fossil. By looking at the ratio of Carbon-12 to Carbon-14 in the sample and comparing it to the ratio in a living organism, it is possible to determine the age of a formerly living thing fairly precisely. * Once dates for geologic layers have been established, the age of fossils within that layer can be inferred. When the age of fossils has been established, they can be used to date other geologic layers. This is commonly done in the oil and gas industry.

Edit: Carbon dating can only be used on materials that are less than about 50,000 years old, so it can't be used on fossils.

The ages of fossils are generally constrained by radiometric dating of suitable rocks (i.e. igneous or metamorphic) in proximity to their containing strata within the lithological sequence.

Answer 3

The dating of fossils was originally done by their placement in a geologic column of rock strata. Because of the Law of Superposition, the deeper the stratum, the older it is (in an undisturbed body of rock or sediment). Fossils which were evident in a particular stratum, but missing from other strata were noted as "index" fossils. The presence of these fossils indicated the age of the stratum relative to other layers. The layers of stratum were placed in a geologic column, subdivided, and assigned names based on the presence of different types of fossil organisms.This is the basis of "relative dating" of rock layers and fossils, a dating technique that was in effect until the advent of radiometric techniques in the twentieth century.

Answer 4

Using relative age, you can determine the age of a fossil by the age of the rock surrounding it.(To get absolute age, you use radioactivity)

Answer 5

by placement in colums to records the fossils age and what stage the fossil is in .