This is used to find the ages of human artifacts or things that were once living

This is used to find the ages of human artifacts or things that were once living

• A. Uranium-238
• B. Potassium-40
• C. Carbon-14
• D. Carbon-12

Answer: (C)

Carbon-14 dating relies on measuring how much of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 remains in a sample that came from a living organism. While something is alive, it continually exchanges carbon with its environment, so the carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio stays constant. After death, intake stops and carbon-14 decays to nitrogen-14 with a half-life of about 5,730 years. By seeing how much carbon-14 is left, scientists estimate the time since death, which makes it ideal for dating human artifacts and other once-living materials like wood, bone, or charcoal. This method works best for samples up to roughly 50,000–60,000 years old. Uranium-238 and Potassium-40 are used for dating much older materials such as rocks and minerals, because they have very long half-lives and apply to geological time scales rather than recent organic remains. Carbon-12 is stable and does not decay, so it cannot be used to measure age.

Carbon-14 dating relies on measuring how much of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 remains in a sample that came from a living organism. While something is alive, it continually exchanges carbon with its environment, so the carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio stays constant. After death, intake stops and carbon-14 decays to nitrogen-14 with a half-life of about 5,730 years. By seeing how much carbon-14 is left, scientists estimate the time since death, which makes it ideal for dating human artifacts and other once-living materials like wood, bone, or charcoal. This method works best for samples up to roughly 50,000–60,000 years old.

Uranium-238 and Potassium-40 are used for dating much older materials such as rocks and minerals, because they have very long half-lives and apply to geological time scales rather than recent organic remains. Carbon-12 is stable and does not decay, so it cannot be used to measure age.