Carbon-14 has a half life of approximately 5730 years. It is often used in carbon dating to find the age of artifacts and fossils since the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere is known. Assume that a certain fossil has 30% as much carbon-14 as its present-day equivalent should have. Approximate to the nearest year the age of the fossil.
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We know that the half-life of Carbon-14 is 5730 years. This means that every 5730 years, the amount of Carbon-14 in a sample is halved. Show more…
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Carbon-14 dating can be used to estimate the age of formerly living materials because the uptake of carbon-14 from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stops once the organism dies. If tissue samples from a mummy contain about $81.0 \%$ of the carbon-14 expected in living tissue, how old is the mummy? The half-life for decay of carbon-14 is 5730 years.
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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,$^{14} \mathrm{C}$, with a half-life of about 5730 years. Vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide through the atmosphere and animal life assimilates $^{14} \mathrm{C}$ through food chains. When a plant or animal dies, it stops replacing its carbon and the amount of $^{14} \mathrm{C}$ 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 $^{14} \mathrm{C}$ radioactivity as does plant material on the earth today. Estimate the age of the parchment.
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