What is Radiocarbon Dating? ^see above^

Question

^see above^

Answer 1

Hanna above got it right, except atmospheric nitrogen doesn't break down to carbon.  Molecules are made of groups of atoms that can be broken down by radiation.  Nitrogen and Carbon are atoms, if they are broken down they become sub atomic particles (Protons, Neutrons, and electrons).  What happens is the Carbon atoms in the upper atmosphere under bombardment from cosmic radiation becomes the isotope C-14 then falls to earth to be taken up by living beings.

Answer 2

All living creatures absorb the radioactive element carbon 14 throughout their lives. When a living organism dies it no longer absorbs this element. Carbon 14 like all radioactive isotopes has a half life. The period in which half of the element decays.

For example lets say it's half life is 100 years. In 100 years, half of the material will decay, in another 100 years half of the remaining material will decay and so on.

Since the half life of carbon 14 is a known quantity scientists can measure the amount of carbon 14 remaining in an old bone, hair, or piece of wood and determine it's age by the amount of decay that has taken place.

I hope that helps.

Answer 3

It's a process scientists use to date certain objects. They first assess the carbon levels in the object (i.e. a human bone) , and then I think they use the half lives of carbon to figure out how old it is.

Answer 4

All the above answers are good.  One problem with all dating systems is that they are all based on a kind of circular logic that dates things by where they are in geological stratas.  Archaeologists ask geologists how old an object is by where it lies in the stratum, and geologist confirm stratum age by archaeological items there.  You can see the problem.  This is why you see so many arguments over dating.  Also carbon dating can be contaminated and end up with a wrong date.  The science is good, but mistakes are made all the time.  You can not use only one sample, or one system to get a good date.  This is what some religious groups try to use to explain away evolution and things like dinosaurs.

Answer 5

Radiocarbon dating is the technique upon which chronologies of the late Pleistocene and Holocene have been built. http://www.c14dating.com/int.html

Answer 6

ther is a calendar in every atom,

but i thought everythimng gets mixed up to show you how old it is

Answer 7

As the Earth's upper atmosphere is bombarded by cosmic radiation, atmospheric nitrogen is broken down into an unstable isotope  - carbon 14, which is brought to Earth by atmospheric activity, such as storms, and becomes fixed in the biosphere. Because it reacts identically to C-12 and C-13, C-14 becomes attached to complex organic molecules through photosynthesis in plants and becomes part of their molecular makeup. Animals eating those plants in turn absorb Carbon-14 as well as the stable isotopes. This process of ingesting C-14 continues as long as the plant or animal remains alive.

The C-14 within an organism is continually decaying into stable carbon isotopes, but since the organism is absorbing more C-14 during its life, the ratio of C-14 to C-12 remains about the same as the ratio in the atmosphere. When the organism dies, the ratio of C-14 within its carcass begins to gradually decrease. The rate of decrease is 1/2 the quantity at death every 5,730 years. That is the half-life of C-14.

Using this technique, almost any sample of organic material can be directly dated