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Radioactive Decay & C-14 Dating

Radioactive Decay & C-14 Dating. Evolution Unit Chapter 14 p.382. How Radioactive Dating Works:. All living organisms accumulate C-14 while they are alive Once the organism dies, it stops accumulating carbon and the C-14 it has slowly decays into N-14 (nitrogen-14)

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Radioactive Decay & C-14 Dating

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  1. Radioactive Decay & C-14 Dating Evolution Unit Chapter 14 p.382

  2. How Radioactive Dating Works: • All living organisms accumulate C-14 while they are alive • Once the organism dies, it stops accumulating carbon and the C-14 it has slowly decays into N-14 (nitrogen-14) • We can measure the amount of C-14 left or N-14 made to date any fossil

  3. Half-Life • All fossils contain isotopes (different # neutrons) of elements that accumulated in the organisms when they were alive due to the atmosphere they lived in. • Half-life (for an isotope) is the # of years it takes for 50% (half) of the original sample to decay.

  4. Let’s try a problem: • A fossil was found in 1900. It contained .0625 g of C-14. The living organism contained 2 grams. How many years before 1900 did the organism die? • Step One: Figure out how many half lives there have been. 21.5.25.125.0625 • Step Two: Count arrows=shows 5 half lives! 3. Step Three: Multiply # half lives by the time it takes for one half life to occur! 5(5,730)=28,650 years

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