What is the best way to determine age in skeletal remains?

Answer 1

Using carbon-14 nuclear decay, we can determine the age of skeletons or other reminders of organisms that used to be alive.

Carbon-14 is a isotope of carbon that has 8 neutrons and 6 protons. It is less stable than carbon-12 (6 proton and 6 neutrons), so it will dissociate to a carbon-12 atom ( 6 protons, 6 neutrons).

All of the living organisms have a fixed ratio of carbon-14, and carbon-12 as long as they are alive. When they are dead, the carbon-13 starts to dissociate so this ratio will be different. It is known that every 5730 years the amount of carbon-14 is half of the original.

The formula below can be used to determine the age of the skeleton. In this formula, N is the current amount of the carbon-14. N₀ is the initial amount of C-14 and t is the age of the skeleton.

N=N₀ (0.5)^(t/5730)