29. Carbon-14 measurements on the linen wrappings from the Book of Isaiah on the Dead Sea Scrolls indicated that the scrolls contained about 79.5% of the carbon-14 found in living tissue. Approximately how old are these scrolls? The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years. a.570 years b. 1300 years c.820 years d.4600 years e. 1900 years
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So, if the scrolls have 79.5% of the carbon-14 found in living tissue, it means they have lost 20.5% of their original carbon-14. However, this doesn't mean that the scrolls are 20.5% of 5730 years old. The decay of carbon-14 is not linear, but exponential. This Show more…
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(13 points) Carbon from the Dead Sea Scrolls, very old manuscripts found in Israel, gave 12.1 disintegrations of 14C per minute per gram of carbon. How old are the manuscripts? Carbon from living material gives 15.3 disintegrations of 14C per minute per gram carbon. The half-life of 14C is 5730 years.
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A tiny piece of paper taken from the Dead Sea scrolls, believed to date back to the third century A.D., was found to have a 14C/12C ratio 0.743 times that in a plant living today. Estimate the age of the scrolls. Was the estimate correct? (For carbon-14, t1/2 is 5730 years.) PLEASE SHOW ALL WORK
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Scientists can determine the age of ancient objects by the method of radiocarbon dating. The bombardment of the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays converts nitrogen to a radioactive isotope of carbon. $ ^{14}C $ with a halt-life of about 5730 years. Vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide through the atmosphere and animal life assimilates $ ^{14}C $ through food chains. When a plant or animal dies, it slops replacing its carbon and the amount of $ ^{14}C $ begins to decrease through radioactive decay. Therefore the level of radioactivity must also decay exponentially. A discovery revealed a parchment fragment that had about $ 74\% $ as much $ ^{14}C $ radioactivity as does plant material on the earth today. Estimate the age of the parchment.
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