Radioactive+Dating

Radioactive Dating Created by: Allegra Drzymkoswki = What is radioactive Dating? =
 * A technique used to determine the age of a rock or material by using radioactive isotopes.

= Who invented radioactive dating? =
 * Willa rd Libby, in 1947
 * Calculated the half-life of C-14 to be 5,730 years.

= What is Half-Life? =
 * “The half-life is the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample to decay. The half-life for a given isotope is always the same; it doesn't depend on how many atoms you have or on how long they've been sitting around” (Colorado.edu/physics).

The website below shows the time it take for different isotopes to decay []

= How dose Carbon-14 dating work? =


 * Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon
 * Plants gain CO2 and C-14 through photosynthesis
 * Animals and people eat plants
 * From death, wood and bones loose C-14 as it changes from N-14 by beta decay



= How is Carbon-14 made? =
 * A cosmic ray collides with N-14 (7 neutrons, 7 protons)- makes C-14( 8 neutrons, 6 protons)
 * C-14 is unstable





= Modern radioactive dating methods. = =
 * Used to find the age of an fossil
 * Scientists would take a piece of the fossil and burn it, creating carbon dioxide gas
 * C-14 decays into N-14 emitting an electron
 * A radiation counter measures the amount of electrons emitted,
 * "By measuring the amount of C-12 to C-14 and comparing it to the ratio in a living organism, that can determine the age of a fossil or artifact" (ndt-ed.org)
 * []

=A video to summarize radioactive dating:= [|How Dose Radiocarbon Dating Work?]

=Works cited= [] [] [] [] []