|
|
Article: Carbon Dating
- Article from:
- World of Earth Science
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Carbon dating
Carbon
dating is a technique used to determine the approximate age of once-living materials. It is based on the decay rate of the radioactive carbon isotope
14
C, a form of carbon taken in by all living organisms while they are alive.
Before the twentieth century, determining the age of ancient
fossils
or artifacts was considered the job of paleontologists or paleontologists, not nuclear physicists. By comparing the placement of objects with the age of the
rock
and silt layers in which they were found, scientists could usually make a general estimate of their age. However, many objects were found in caves, frozen in
ice
, or in other areas whose ages were not known; ...