Radiocarbon Dating

A video by the The Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory NZ regarding carbon dating. Full article and more videos- http://www.eequalsmcsquared.auckland.ac.nz/sites/emc2/videos/cool-kiwi-scienc...

'The Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory has a long history in radiocarbon dating. To determine the radiocarbon age of an organic material it is necessary to measure the proportion of radiocarbon (C14) in the carbon that it contains. The technical problem to be solved is the detection of the rare isotope C14 in the presence of the much more abundant isotopes C12 and C13. The natural abundance of 14C is about one 14C atom per trillion (10^12) atoms of C12.

What can you date?
Anything containing carbon between 150 and 60,000 years old (i.e.: wood, leather, bone, paper, seawater, gases, ice cores, pollen, pottery, coral, seeds, charcoal, blood residues, sediment, soil, shell, textiles, plant and animal tissue, insect remains, cave paintings, resins and glues).'

How it works

Carbon-14 has half-life of 5730 years

Natural abundance of C-14 is one C-14 atom to one trillion C-12 atomsSample is purified physically and chemically in the 'pre-treatment lab'

Sample is burnt at 900C turning it into CO2 which is combined with hydrogen and passed over an iron catalyst. Result is pure carbon and water.

Graphite carbon pellet is placed at one end of linear accelerator

Carbon atoms are 'chipped off' graphite pellet and sent through acceleratorComputer counts the three different types of carbon atoms at other end of accelerator

Ratio of carbon-12 and carbon-14 atoms indicates age of sample.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• particle
• physics
• new
• zealand
• science
• geological
• nuclear
• sciences

[pyr666]

@Hunterkirk

interestingly enough, as a first order reaction (google it), you dont NEED the original amount

[nightkraawler]

sooo when can we get the over-the - counter testing kit for radiocarbon dating..2-4 years?I need an estimate.

[ChelseaBobcat]

mind=blown. i cant believe humans figured this out and created the machinery... not that im saying humans are stupid or anything but i just cant even imagine having the knowledge to create something like this.

[crnormandy]

It is good to reaffirm my assumption that there are many people who are thoroughly indoctrinated rather than educated and are incapable of actual thought. Anyone who truly seeks out evidence and is thinking freely would have lots of questions.

[crnormandy]

What about non living things such as rocks? I believe that is what my original link was representing.

[audveltadmuna]

@stevjen1 and people still believe that the world is 13023 years old

[CrazyChunkles]

An archaeology student this was helpful in understanding more about dating, thanks!

[nbmnkjlrwewds]

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[stevjen1]

@lailum They use radiometric dating. As radioactive elements decay the rate is measured. It is constant. See U-235 decay, U-238, pb-207, pb-206, Curium 247. Ratios. There are over a dozen measuring techniques. The earth is 4.545 billion years old. +- 1/10 of one percent inaccurate. That is, it is 99.09 percent accurate. How cool is that. 4.545 billion years old give or take a million years.

[stevjen1]

@lailum They use radiometric dating. As radioactive elements decay the rate is measured. It is constant. See U-235 decay, U-238, pb-207, pb-206, Curium 247. Ratios. There are over a dozen measuring techniques. The earth is 4.545 million years old. +- 1/10 of one percent inaccurate. That is, it is 99.09 percent accurate. How cool is that.