Is carbon dating full proof?

Question

How accurate does it actually get to determining how old something is?

Answer 1

As with any experimental method, radiocarbon dating using C14 is based on a number of assumptions. Critics of this method often focus on one or more of those assumptions and say that you can't be certain of this assumption, and so the whole method is flawed.

The validity of C14 dating is demostrated by how well it correlates with other dating methods that rely on different, unrelated physical mechanisms (i.e. a different set of assumptions). Dating by counting tree rings is a good example.

By 1969, the process had become mature enough to be considered reliable. Since then, technical advances have reduced the uncertainty in the date (accuracy) and reduced the amount of material needed for the measurement (sensitivity).

With current technology, C14 dating does have practical limits. 50000 years before present is about the dating limit.

Answer 2

Radioactive dating relies on probabilities, so there's always a margin of error associated with any measurement depending on how much they had to work with in the first place and how far back you're trying to estimate an age.  Wikipedia has a good article on exactly how it works; it's a bit much to summarize here.

Answer 3

It can be accurate but not all the time

Answer 4

Radio carbon dating is only applicable on items between 40,000 years old  and 2,000 years old, a sample has to be organic material, a statistical error is always given, for example, a date of 2,200 +/- 200 years.  And the concentration of radiocarbon in the atmosphere has varied considerable over time, as a result of changes in solar activity and in the strength of the earths magnetic field.  But other than that, it works pretty well, but is rather expensive :( sometimes it's better to use Tree-ring dating, or potassium-argon dating