Is there any way to change the average amount of radiation emitted from a radioactive substance?
No, the average amount of radiation emitted from a radioactive substance is inherent to the substance's decay process and cannot be changed. The rate of decay is measured by the substance's half-life, which is a fixed characteristic of the radioactive material.
A dirty bomb is an explosive device designed to eject or spray radioactive material over a small area. It does not produce mass amounts of fallout compared to a traditional nuclear device, since there is no fission involved. A conventional explosive such as those used on Oklahoma City, Beirut or the first World Trade Center attack, if packed with powdered or pelleted radioactive material (strontium, plutonium, etc.) would eject that material into buildings, parks, streets and people in the surrounding area. While the immediate death count would be low, many people would suffer from radiation sickness. Cleanup would be massively expensive and time-consuming. An area of several square miles would likely be uninhabitable for years.
Potential terrorists would buy the material on the black market from sources such as former Soviet Union countries, North Korea or the Middle East. Getting it refined in secret would be somewhat difficult. Transporting it to the target area would also be hard but not impossible.
*** I agree with the first part of the above answer, however anyone who is even fairly determined can get radioactive material. it is found is some medical equiptment, and other sources. The radio active material can be put in a regular pipe, or car bomb. If exploded in a populated area it would spread the radioactive materiel over a large area. Large numbers of people would have increased rates of cancer and other radation sicknesses. Other people would likely be injured by the direct blast and first responders would be in danger when going into rescue the wounded. The history (discovery, one of them) did a show on what would happen if a terrorist attacked with either a dirty bomb or a full atomic bomb. They did a good job and it is worth watching.
How does carbon dating help scientists?
Carbon dating helps scientists determine the age of organic materials by measuring the amount of carbon-14 present. By comparing the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in a sample to known levels in the atmosphere, scientists can calculate how long it has been since the organism died. This method is important for dating archaeological artifacts, determining the age of fossils, and understanding past climate changes.
Can archaeologist estimate the age of a any ancient artifact with carbon dating?
Carbon dating can be used by archaeologists to estimate the age of artifacts that contain organic material. By measuring the decay of radioactive carbon isotopes in the artifact, scientists can calculate its age within a certain range. However, carbon dating is not always accurate for very old artifacts, and other dating methods may be used in conjunction with carbon dating for more precise results.
How do you calculate age using carbon dating?
When a living thing dies, it stops taking in carbon-14, and the carbon-14 decays into nitrogen-14 at a steady rate. By measuring how much carbon-14 remains, scientists can estimate how old a specimen is.
What can carbon dating be used to date?
Carbon dating can be used to date organic materials, such as wood, bones, shells, and charcoal. It is particularly useful for determining the age of archaeological artifacts and fossils that are up to about 50,000 years old.
What is a researcher who uses carbon dating?
A researcher who uses carbon dating is typically an archaeologist, anthropologist, or geologist. Carbon dating is a method used to determine the age of organic materials by measuring the decay of radioactive carbon isotopes. This dating technique is commonly applied to artifacts, fossils, and other remains to establish their chronology.
Why can't carbon be used to date all ages of material?
Carbon dating is only reliable up to about 50,000 years due to the short half-life of carbon-14 (5,730 years). For older materials, other radioactive isotopes with longer half-lives, such as uranium-lead or potassium-argon, are used for dating.
What is the difference between dendrochronology dating method and carbon dating method?
basically, both of them involve sexually transmitted deseases that occur when a woman squirts hardcore over a guys penis and the carbon inside is penis gets escalted.This process is called dendrochronolgy. And it is suggested not to be attempted.
How far back can carbon dating be used?
As far back as there were organisms who were able to consume food containing both ordinary carbon and an isotope of carbon; the comparison of the ratios - which pinpoints the time when an organism stopped eating - gives rise to carbon dating.
With which field of study are the terms artifact carbon dating and dig site associated?
Archeology. Archaeology is the study of human material culture, remains, architecture, and the archaeological record.
Can carbon dating be used on living things?
Carbon dating cannot be used on living organisms since the method measures the decay of carbon-14 isotopes over time. In living organisms, the carbon-14 levels remain constant due to continuous intake through the food chain. Once the organism dies, the carbon-14 levels begin to decline, allowing for dating of the organic material.
Could scientists use carbon dating to determine the age of hominids?
Yes, scientists can use carbon dating to determine the age of hominid fossils. Carbon dating relies on measuring the amount of carbon-14 present in a sample to estimate its age. However, carbon dating is typically used on organic materials up to around 50,000 years old, so other dating methods may be necessary for older hominid fossils.
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 materials can carbon dating be used to date?
Carbon dating can be used to date organic materials that were once part of a living organism, such as wood, bone, charcoal, and plant remains. It is most commonly used on objects that are less than 50,000 years old.
Can carbon dating be used to identify the age of index fossils?
No. Carbon dating is only effective for time periods less than 70,000 years. This excludes all the major index fossils, and is a very short geologic time span. Index fossils can be dated, however by their association in the geologic column with metamorphic and igneous rocks, which can be radiometrically dated.
Are carbon dating and radiocarbon dating the same?
Yes, carbon dating and radiocarbon dating refer to the same test, which is the analysis of the carbon 14 isotope.
What does carbon dating mean and how accurate is it?
When scientists use carbon dating, the measure the amount of radioactive carbon-14 present in a fossil or organic artifact. C-14 decays at a steady rate, so if scientists can calculate the amount that has decayed, they can determine the approximate age of the artifact.
What is a worked example of carbon dating?
Sure! Let's say we have a sample of a once-living material, like a piece of wood, and we want to determine its age using carbon dating. By measuring the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the sample and comparing it to the known half-life of carbon-14 (about 5,730 years), we can calculate the approximate age of the sample. This method is effective for dating materials up to about 50,000 years old.
Can carbon dating measure stone?
Generally not. Radiocarbon dating generally cannot date materials older than about 50,000 years, and most rocks are millions to hundreds of millions of years old. Additionally, most rocks do not have asignificant carbon content. One exception comes in partly burned vegetation buried in volcanic rock, which can be fairly young.
What is carbon dating used for?
For dating when objects that were alive at some time in the past lived.
Additional information needed for carbon dating?
The count rate of carbon-14 (subtracting background radiation) from a fresh sample of the same substance you are testing so that one can compare the count rate of the old artifact. The half-life of Carbon-14 (5730 years) must also be known.
You must know the background radiation to find the actual radiation being emitted from the artifact, the half-life of Carbon-14 and the total number of carbon atoms in the artifact for comparing ratios. The mass of nonradioactive carbon atoms is also needed.
What happens during radioactive decay?
The timing of radioactive decay is unpredictable.
The causes of radioactive decay are instability of a nucleus and chance events. Examples of these chance events are collisions by subatomic particles, vacuum fluctuations, and the like - unpredictable.
Does fermium-257 undergo nuclear decay?
Alpha decay to californium 253. The half life of fermium 257 is 100.5 days.
What is the equation to describe the beta decay of polonium -220?
210 4 214
84 PO -------> 2 alpha + 86 RN