For example: “Nobody cites the many hundreds of C Carbon-14 is radioactive—therefore, it decays over time.It can be used as a dating tool because creatures and plants accumulate it during their lifetimes, and cease doing so when they die. If four essential facts are known, an age can be calculated with precision.In contrast, science textbooks can hardly be found that do not refer to human or “pre-human” remains 10,000 to millions of years old. C” or “C-14” appear within a quote, they are shown as they were published.) Contrary to popular perception, carbon dating is not a precise answer-all to chronology questions. The narrator indicated that they have samples dated “because they want to know exactly how old the skeleton is.” A famous American colleague, Professor Brew, briefly summarized a common attitude among archaeologists. And if it is completely ‘out of date,’ we just drop it.” Few archaeologists who have concerned themselves with absolute chronology are innocent of having sometimes applied this method.” Although the symposium was held in 1970, the point is still relevant.This fact is openly recognized by scientists involved in the field. It would seem that practices should have improved as technology advanced—but more recent accounts suggest that the accuracy of the results hasn’t changed much.

those that form during chemical reactions without breaking down).

But there are some questions that come to mind: Calculus students typically meet this problem somewhere in the second semester.

It is one of the simplest examples of a differential equation.

Radioactive decay causes once-living specimens to lose half of their C14 atoms in about each 5,730-year half-life.

Thus, if the level today is half of what it was estimated to be when the thing died, it is said to be 5,730 years old.