All living things contain carbon. Most of this carbon is stable carbon-12. Howev

Question

All living things contain carbon. Most of this carbon is stable carbon-12. However, a small percentage will be carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon that decays with time. As living things eat and breath, carbon is constantly recycled, and therefore the amount of carbon remains constant. It's not until death that the amount of carbon-14 will begin to diminish due to decay. Therefore, we can determine how long organic material has been dead by comparing its carbon-14 content to the amount expected for a living organism.

The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years. Therefore, 5730 years after being cut from a tree, a piece of wood will have 50.0% of the carbon-14 that it had originally.

What percentage of the original carbon-14 will remain in the wood after another 5730 years?

Express the percentage numerically.

Explanation / Answer

The half life of carbon-14 is 5730 years.

A piece of wood containing carbon 14 after 5730 years will have 50% of Carbon-14

After another 5730 years the 50% of the carbon-14 will become 25%.

The original carbon-14 present after 5730+5730 = 11460 years will be 25%

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