A rare find of carbon containing soft tissue (biological tissue, such as protein

Question

A rare find of carbon containing soft tissue (biological tissue, such as proteins) in a T-rex dinosaur fossil bone that is thought to be 65 million years old has recently been discovered by paleontologist Mary Schweitzer (Fields 2006). You have been asked to analyze a sample of the tissue for carbon-14 dating. The activity of the sample was found to be 8 x 10-5 disintegrations per second. An equal mass of fresh sample of human tissue was found to be 15.200 disintegrations per second. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5700 yr. Calculate the age of the dinosaur tissue from the data you acquired.

Explanation / Answer

For age:

Desintegrations actually = Original Desintegration rate * (1/2)^(time/ Half life)

then, substitute

(8*10^-5) = (1.52) * (1/2) ^(time/5700)

time = 5700*ln((8*10^-5)/(1.52 ) ) / ln(0.5)

time = 81018 years

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.