answersLogoWhite

0

It isn't 0

Carbon dating uses the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 which has a half life of 5730 years. It may be used to date organic materials up to roughly 40,000 years old.

BTW, ordinary nonradioactive carbon (Carbon-12 and Carbon-13) by definition have a half life of infinity (not 0), as they do not decay!

User Avatar

Wiki User

9y ago

What else can I help you with?

Related Questions

How do you carbon date rocks 10 million years old?

You cannot. Carbon dating is not useful for dating things more than about 50,000 years old. You would have to use a different radioisotope to date something 10 million years old. Potassium-Argon dating would work for some rocks.


What is needed to establish the age of an artifact?

If you're using carbon- 14 dating, you need to know: 1. what the half life of carbon-14 is, so then you can roughly work out how old it is; 2. You need a sample of something now, and work out its carbon-14 count, then you can compare it to the count rate of the old artefact; 3. the old artefacts need to be tested for its counts for minutes at the moment; 4. The mass and number of carbon atomes also needs to be known.


How does carbon dating or radioactive dating work and why is it used?

Everything has carbon in it. When the organism dies, it begins to disintegrate. We know the rate at which things disintegrate at, so we can determine how much carbon is left and then apply a scientific formula and figure out how old the organism is. Radioactive dating works much the same.


Why would carbon dating work if carbon atoms did not decay at a constant rate?

Statistically carbon-14 atoms decay at a constant rate.


Would carbon dating work if carbon-14 atoms did not decay at a constant rate and why?

Statistically carbon-14 atoms decay at a constant rate.


How does carbon dating work ma?

Carbon dating works by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon-14 in a sample. Carbon-14 is present in all living organisms and decays at a known rate after death. By comparing the amount of carbon-14 remaining in a sample to the amount in living organisms, scientists can determine the sample's age.


What type of dating involves the use of radioactive elements and half-lives?

Radioactive decay may be used in carbon dating, testing for the amounts of a radioactive carbon isotope (C14) in the remains of some organism. C14 obviously only works on organic material which was once alive, such as wood or bone. Because C14 has a very short half life, less than 6000 years, it does not work on material much over 60,000 years (about ten half lives). Potassium/Argon is another useful set of isotopes that can yield the ages of rocks and inorganic matter far older--many millions of years old.


Would this method for determining half-life work for an isotope that has a half-life of 4.2 years?

zxz


How does carbon dating work to determine the age of archaeological artifacts?

Carbon dating works by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon-14 in a sample. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope that decays at a known rate over time. By comparing the amount of carbon-14 in a sample to the amount in living organisms, scientists can determine the age of the artifact.


Can half-life source be used for half-life mods?

No. Half-Life: Source runs on the Source engine. The original Half-Life doesn't. You cannot use mods made for the original Half-Life on Half-Life: Source because they run on different engines and it won't work.


Why is radiocarbon dating only rarely applied in geological work?

Radiocarbon dating can only be used to determine the age of objects that were once alive, such as fossilized bones or plants. It is of no use in dating geological formations that do not contain some remains of formerly living substances. Carbon atoms are contained in most cells of all living things on Earth. Most carbon atoms (98.89 percent) are called carbon-12 because they have 6 neutrons and 6 protons in their nuclei. Most of the remaining atoms (1.11 percent) have 7 neutrons along with their 6 protons and are called carbon-13 atoms, but a very small quantity (called a trace amount) of carbon atoms have 8 neutrons and 6 protons. These and are called carbon-14 atoms. Carbon-14 atoms are radioactive and are referred to as radiocarbon. They are unstable, and decay slowly by releasing electrons before evolving into nitrogen-14 atoms. A living organisms constantly absorbs carbon in its body systems by respiration and processing nutrients, and the amount of carbon-14 it contains remains fairly constant for as long as it lives. The carbon-14 decays without being replaced after the organism dies and half of the carbon-14 nuclei will disintegrate in about 5,730 years. The amount of carbon-14 that has disintegrated in a fossilized organism can be calculated and used for determining its age.


How does carbon-14 dating work to determine the age of organic materials?

Carbon-14 dating works by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon-14 in organic materials. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope that decays at a known rate over time. By comparing the amount of carbon-14 in a sample to the amount in living organisms, scientists can calculate the age of the material.