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Why is radioactive decay is good method of measuring the absolute age of ancient fossils?
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∙ 8y ago
There are different types of atoms with the same chemical properties but with different numbers of neutrons in the atomic nucleus. These are called "isotopes". The most common element in most living organisms is carbon, which comes in two isotopes; carbon 12, which is normal ordinary carbon and carbon 14, which is very slightly radioactive. The radioactivity means that it will decay, changing into some other element, very slowly.
The proportion of carbon 12 to carbon 14 is pretty steady, so as living things grow, they take in carbon 12 and carbon 14 in their food and air. When the plant or animal dies, they stop taking in new carbon. The carbon 12 remains the same, while the carbon 14 decays into something else very slowly. When we find the remains or the fossil of the dead animal or plant, we can measure how much carbon 12 and how much carbon 14 there is, and calculate how long it has been since the animal died.
Kevin Greenfelder
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How do scientists use the halflife of radioactive isotopes to date rocks and fossils?
The basic idea is to compare the abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope within a material to the abundance of its decay products; it is known how fast the radioactive isotope decays.
How can carbon dating be used in materials?
Carbon dating is mainly used by archaeologists to date recent finds as the technique is only accurate for 50,000 to 60,000 years in the past. To date fossils, or rather the rocks in or near where the fossils are found, we use radioactive isotopes which have a much greater half life.
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.
What is a rock's radiometric clock?
Radiometric dating (often called radioactive dating) is a technique used to date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay products, using known decay rates. The use of radiometric dating was first published in 1907 by Bertram Boltwood and is now the principal source of information about the absolute age of rocks and other geological features, including the age of the Earth itself, and can be used to date a wide range of natural and man-made materials. Together with stratigraphic principles, radiometric dating methods are used in geochronology to establish the geological time scale. Among the best-known techniques are radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon datingand uranium-lead dating. By allowing the establishment of geological timescales, it provides a significant source of information about the ages of fossils and the deduced rates of evolutionary change. Radiometric dating is also used to date archaeological materials, including ancient artifacts.Different methods of radiometric dating vary in the timescale over which they are accurate and the materials to which they can be applied.
How can you tell which fossil is the oldest or the youngest?
The fossils that are further up among the layers would be newer because they were formed before the others.When fossils are further down in the ground they are older because they had been covered up longer in time.
How can the absolute age of a rock be determined?
Through Radioactive Dating or Isotopic Dating.
How are stratigraphic and radioactive dating different in regards to how they date fossils?
Radioactive dating refers to the process of measuring the age of an object using the amount of a given radioactive material it contains. Relative dating, meanwhile, measures the order of past events, without determining their absolute age.
How far back can you date fossils by measuring radioactive carbon decay?
50,000 years useing carbon 14
True or False Fossils may be dated by either the relative dating method which determines the relative order of fossils or by the absolute dating method which uses radioactive isotopes?
True
What are two ways geologists determine the age of fossils?
The two methods are "RELATIVE DATING" and "ABSOLUTE DATING". :)
Which isotope is used to date ancient such as fossils?
The isotope of carbon is used to date the ancient fossils. Since every living creature had organic matter and carbon is an integral part of that organic matter, it is conventional to use carbon isotope.
How do radioactive elements be used to date fossils?
brick
Radioactive dating of fossils depends on the decay of what?
plants
What is an example of absolute dating?
fossils.
What can scientists learn from the rate at which radioactive elements decay?
fossils
What did the ancient Chinese think fossils where?
The ancient Chinese thought that dinosaur fossils were dragon skeletons.
Can you make a sentence comparing age of three fossils using ancient?
By definition, we could say all three fossils are 'ancient'. Fossils provide an ancient record of plants and animals.
