I am stumped on this question: Carbon-14, an unstable isotope of carbon which decays exponetially to a more stable form, is used to date animal remains. After 5700 years, onehalf of the orginal amount of carbon-14, by weight, remains. Write an exponetial function with base one half relating the amount N of carbon 14 in the animal remains after t years to the orginal amount A. The right answer gets 12 creds!!
This is math and no this is a question on my homework that is driving me crazy! Merged Post: still need some help. Anyone know?
My first degree's in archaeology, but that was a looooong time ago. Hope this helps (as best I remember it...it won't let me superscript or subscript here so let me know if you want me to email you a .doc with it on) The number of atoms A left after time t to the initial number A0 at time zero by the equation describing exponential decay: A = A0 e-λt where λ is a constant equal to the reciprocal of the meanlife τ. A term better known in relation to radioactive decay is the half-life, T ½. The half-life is related to the meanlife by T ½ = (ln2) τ Where ln is the natural logarithm to the base e. Meanlives and therefore half-lives are specific to a particular radioactive atom, and for 14C the best estimate of T ½ is 5730. To determine the radiocarbon age, the equation at the top is often written as t = -τ ln(A/A0)
wow that looks right. 12 creds are rewarded to you. akso send me the .doc to [email protected]. Thnx a bunch!
