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What is Carbon 14 Dating? ;
Carbon-14 dating is a method of estimating the age of organic materials by measuring the amount of carbon-14 remaining in them. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon. It is formed in the atmosphere when cosmic rays knock neutrons out of atomic nuclei. The neutrons then collide with nitrogen-14 atoms to form carbon-14 atoms.
The carbon-14 atoms are unstable and decay, releasing radiation in the process. The rate at which carbon-14 decays is constant, so by measuring the amount of radiation it emits, we can estimate its age.
About Radiocarbon Dating
Radiocarbon dating is a technique used to date materials that contain carbon. It is based on the assumption that the amount of radiocarbon in the atmosphere has been constant since the time that the material was formed. The amount of radiocarbon in a material is measured by counting the number of radioactive carbon atoms in a sample. The age of the material is then calculated by comparing the amount of radiocarbon in the sample to the amount of radiocarbon in a standard sample.
