Radio carbon dating

What is radiocarbon dating?

It is the method to find the age of the organic material with the help of the radioactive carbon present in them.

 

What is the difference between radioactive carbon and the normal carbon?

The radioactive carbon usually has the atomic weight of 14 and unstable in nature unlike the normal carbon of atomic weight 12. This is the main property that is being used in the carbon dating.

 

Uses of carbon dating

It is very much useful to identify the age of the particular organic material. usually the age of buried fossils of human, plants, animals and other organic materials found. It is also used to collect information of historical importance

 

how the c-14  is formed?

This c-14 forms in the upper atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with the nitrogen atoms.

 

Facts:

This radiocarbon dating is done based on the fact that every living matter consume carbon in different ways either by directly consuming it from the atmosphere like plants to form complex organic compound for its own needs or else in other way, as the atmosphere consists of both the carbon with atomic weight 12 and also unstable isotope of carbon with atomic number 14. The main thing that makes the isotope of carbon different from the normal carbon with atomic weight 12 is that the isotope of carbon with atomic weight 14 is highly unstable. The half life of carbon 14 atom is 5730 years

This radioactive carbon is consumed by the plants and other organisms throughout their lifetime. After its death the radioactive carbon begins to decompose as its being unstable. The difference in the ratio of the two different carbon atoms are taken into account and the age of the fossil is calculated.

Half-life:

Half-life can be defined as the time taken by the radioactive atom to decay its half of the value or time taken for half of the carbon 14 atom to decay into nitrogen

How to calculate the age of the organic material using the ratio between the two carbon atoms?

There is a formula through which the age of the organic material can be found. The formula is:

 

by:

Vijayalakshmi. J,

B.Tech. Chemical engineering 2nd year.