What has replaced carbon dating? Something better by now I hope?

Question

What has replaced carbon dating? Something better by now I hope?

Answer 1

There is something new called, hmmm, can't quite remember.  It measures tracks in materials caused by radioactivity.  I think it is simply an alternative or something that can be used to confirm C14 dates.  It also can be used to track older things.  I remembered.  Fission track dating.  Heres the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive...

Answer 2

There's something called potassium-argon dating, which is even more precise for measuring the age of the very oldest artifacts...

Answer 3

hmmm, something better?  well theres a better method of r.c. dating that is now done... it can use a much smaller sample of the material than the original carbon dating..

there are TONS of different dating methods, and different ones need to be chosen depending on the timescale, material avaliable, etc...

Answer 4

If it undergoes radioactive decay, then it can be measured....

Answer 5

They have calibrated carbon dating better by comparing it to tree rings.  It is still only useful for relatively young samples.  As was mentioned earlier, it is more accurate now in that it requires less sample.  Some methods like potassium argon have more accuracy because they are embedded in crystals. Since the argon cannot have been present during the formation of the crystal or been introduced latter as a contaminant, it is much more accurate.  With Carbon dating, you are finding the relative concentration of an isotope that starts at a very low concentration so it can't be perfectly accurate and contamination is often a concern.

Answer 6

While carbon 14 is still very useful since it is one of the few dating methods of organic material, there are quite a few other methods centered around dating volcanic material, heated material, and other types of inorganic substances.

E.g.: Fission track dating, K/Ar dating, Thermoluminescence, Electroluminescence.

All of these are limited by what material they can act upon, how large of a time scope they have, and how precise they are. Why do you think that carbon dating is outdated?