The half-life of Carbon-14 is approximately 5,700 years. Using this information scientists have been able to determine the age of some artifacts left by humans. A scientist wants to know approximately how old a piece of wood was that she found on the floor in an old cave that had recently been discovered. If the wood had gone through 3 half-lives, about how old is the wood?

Question

Nora Shelton

Biology

8 January, 20:00

The half-life of Carbon-14 is approximately 5,700 years. Using this information scientists have been able to determine the age of some artifacts left by humans. A scientist wants to know approximately how old a piece of wood was that she found on the floor in an old cave that had recently been discovered. If the wood had gone through 3 half-lives, about how old is the wood?

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Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Skyla Dunlap · Answer 1

The correct answer is "17,100 years".

Explanation:

Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon that is normally present in all living organisms and due to its low content and slow pace of degradation it is widely used for dating purposes. The half-life of Carbon-14 is approximately 5,700 years, therefore, a wood that had gone through 3 half-lives of Carbon-14 will be approximately 17,100 years old. This calculation is made simply by multiplying three times the half-life of Carbon-14.