Since its development in the late 1940s, much research into the reliable application of the technique has been undertaken.
A photosynthesizing plant does not strongly discriminate between the most abundant natural carbon isotope ( The discovery of natural carbon-14 by American chemist Willard Libby of the United States began with his recognition that a process that had produced radiocarbon in the laboratory was also going on in Earth’s upper atmosphere—namely, the bombardment of nitrogen by free neutrons.
Newly created carbon-14 atoms were presumed to react with atmospheric oxygen to form carbon dioxide...
You probably have seen or read news stories about fascinating ancient artifacts.
At an archaeological dig, a piece of wooden tool is unearthed and the archaeologist finds it to be 5,000 years old.
A child mummy is found high in the Andes and the archaeologist says the child lived more than 2,000 years ago.
How do scientists know how old an object or human remains are?
Various scanning devices and techniques have been developed, including tomography...
P) have been valuable in identifying the intermediate compounds formed during carbon assimilation.
After plants die or are consumed by other organisms, the incorporation of all carbon isotopes, including 14C, stops.
Thereafter, the concentration (fraction) of 14C declines at a fixed exponential rate due to the radioactive decay of 14C. ) Comparing the remaining 14C fraction of a sample to that expected from atmospheric 14C allows us to estimate the age of the sample.