Why is carbon dating important in history?

Answer 1

Carbon dating is the measuring of the proportion of carbon atoms which are of isotopic mass 14. These heavy isotopes of carbon decay into nitrogen, and the amount of time taken for half of them to decay is a fixed value, which archaeologists use to determine the age of a find.

Answer 2

Carbon dating is related to the quantity of carbon 14 in an object. Every object is conceived with a certain amount of carbon 14 in them. After death, this carbon 14 starts to leave the body in question. Hense, if a sycamore tree is created with 40,000 carbon 14 atoms and loose 48 a year, after a year their will be 39,952 atoms in it. When a scientist finds out the amount left they can then roughly date the object.

Answer 3

The specific advantages of C-14, for the things it is used for are:

• Its half-life is appropriate for the things it is used to measure (neither too long nor too short).
• It occurs naturally in living beings.

Answer 4

Carbon dating was invented to measure the age of bones, wood, and plant fibers.

Answer 5

Because it has an isotope C14 which lends itself to archaeological rather than geological timescales.

Answer 6

Carbon exist in all living organisms; after death carbon exchange with the environment stop and the isotope carbon-14 decay following a strict law during time.

Answer 7

These isotopes are more appropriate to appreciate long periods of time.