Which one would you use to date an ancient article of clothing found near santa barbara, CA?

Question

Uranium-235?

Potassium-40?

Rubidium 87?

Carbon-14?

Please explain

Answer 1

The one with the shortest half-life assuming the technique is usable.  I suggest you look up the half-lives of each substance listed.  Three of them are far too long to be of any help.

Answer 2

I would use C14 myself. With a half life of around  6000 years, you can use it to date the material.

Uranium-235 has a half-life of 700 million years, and is weapons-grade material.

Potassium 40 is for dating rocks.

Rubidium 87 has a half life of 47000000000 years. A bit much for this test!

Answer 3

C 14...the other tests are using radioactive minerals that are not present in an organic substance which is what clothing would consist of ... what is measured is the rate of decay of the Carbon 14 ...if the sample is not contaminated the test can be quite accurate