Question
What is one assumption in the use of the uranium/lead ratio for dating ancient geologic formations?
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This means that the only element present was uranium. This can be represented as: \[Pb_{0} = 0\] where \(Pb_{0}\) represents the amount of lead at time zero. Show more…
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How is the uranium to lead ratio in a rock used to estimate its age? How does this dating technique provide an estimate for Earth's age? How old is Earth according to this dating method?
As a geologist, you're assessing the feasibility of determining the ages of Earth's earliest rocks using radioactive dating. You estimate the number of half-lives that have passed for three different isotopes during Earth's 4.5 -billion-year lifetime, and from that you determine the number of atoms remaining today from $10^{6}$ atoms present at Earth's formation. The isotopes you consider are carbon- $14,$ uranium-238, and potassium-40. What are your estimates, and which isotopes do you conclude are suitable for radioactive dating?
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