Radiocarbon dating

technique based on carbon-14 decay to determine the age of organic materials
(Redirected from C14 dating)

Radiocarbon dating, also known as the C14 dating method, is a way of telling how old an object is. It is a type of radiometric dating.

The amount of C14 in the atomsphere varies over time
Atmospheric 14C, New Zealand [1] and Austria.[2] The New Zealand curve is representative for the Southern Hemisphere, the Austrian curve is representative for the Northern Hemisphere. Atmospheric nuclear weapon tests almost doubled the concentration of 14C in the Northern Hemisphere.[3]

The method uses the radioactive isotope carbon-14. Most organic matter contains carbon. Carbon has different isotopes, which are usually not radioactive. 14C is the radioactive one, its half-life (time it takes to reduce its radioactivity by half) is about 5,730 years. This makes it possible to tell the age of substances that contain carbon. The method works to about 60,000 years old. Dates obtained are usually written as before present ('present' is 1950).

Plants take up atmospheric carbon dioxide by photosynthesis, and are eaten by animals, so every living thing is constantly exchanging carbon-14 with its environment as long as it lives. Once it dies, however, this exchange stops.

In 1958 Hessel de Vries showed that the concentration of carbon-14 in the atmosphere varies with time and locality. The relatively short-lived 14C is constantly renewed by cosmic ray bombardment on atmospheric nitrogen. Since the bombardment is slightly variable, and for other reasons, the 14C taken into organic matter is also slightly variable. That leads to errors in the chronology. However, under about 20,000 years the results can be compared with dendrochronology, based on tree rings. For the most accurate work, variations are compensated by means of calibration curves.

The method was developed by Willard Libby and his colleagues at the University of Chicago in 1949. In 1960, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work. He first demonstrated the accuracy of radiocarbon dating by accurately estimating the age of wood from an ancient Egyptian royal barge of which the age was known from historical documents.[4][5]

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  1. "Atmospheric δ14C record from Wellington". Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  2. 14Atmospheric δ14C record from Vermunt". Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. Archived from the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  3. "Radiocarbon dating". Utrecht University. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  4. Arnold, J. R.; Libby, W. F. (1949). "Age determinations by radiocarbon content: checks with samples of known age". Science. 110 (2869): 678–680. Bibcode:1949Sci...110..678A. doi:10.1126/science.110.2869.678. PMID 15407879. Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  5. "Willard Frank Libby". Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2009-12-11.