radiocarbon dating

(noun)

Determining the age of an object by comparing the ratio of the 14C concentration found in it to the amount of 14C in the atmosphere.

Related Terms

  • radioactive isotopes
  • half-life
  • isotope

Examples of radiocarbon dating in the following topics:

  • Isotopes

    • Animals eat the plants and, ultimately, the radiocarbon is distributed throughout the biosphere.
    • Because the half-life of 14C is long, it is used to date formerly-living objects such as old bones or wood.
    • This technique is called radiocarbon dating, or carbon dating for short.
    • Scientists often use these other radioactive elements to date objects that are older than 50,000 years (the limit of carbon dating).
    • Discuss the properties of isotopes and their use in radiometric dating
  • Dating Using Radioactive Decay

    • Radiometric dating is used to date materials using the decay rate of a radioactive isotope.
    • Radiometric dating, often called radioactive dating, is a technique used to determine the age of materials such as rocks.
    • The best-known radiometric dating techniques include radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating, and uranium-lead dating.
    • By establishing geological timescales, radiometric dating provides a significant source of information about the ages of fossils and rates of evolutionary change, and it is also used to date archaeological materials, including ancient artifacts.
    • In these cases, the half-life of interest in radiometric dating is usually the longest one in the chain.
  • John Dalton and Atomic Theory

    • Although the concept of the atom dates back to the ideas of Democritus, the English meteorologist and chemist John Dalton formulated the first modern description of it as the fundamental building block of chemical structures.
  • Properties of Carbon

    • It is used in radiometric dating to determine the age of carbonaceous samples (of physical or biological origin) up to about 60,000 years old.
  • Particle Accelerator

    • The term transmutation dates back to alchemy.
  • The Bottom of the Periodic Table

    • This representation, clumsy as it is, correctly shows the elements known to date, up to z=118, unonoctium.
  • Electron Configurations and Magnetic Properties of Ions

    • There are various types of magnetism identified to date that can be organized in a hierarchy.
  • Development of the Periodic Table

    • Atomic theory dates back to the ancient Greek philosophers and those of Hellenistic Egypt.
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