Radioactive carbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating, is a scientific method that allows the determination of the age of organic materials up to approximately 50,000 years old. It relies on the radioactive decay of carbon-14, a naturally occurring isotope of carbon.
Carbon-14 is produced in the Earth's atmosphere through interactions between nitrogen atoms and cosmic rays. These cosmic rays bombard the upper atmosphere, transforming nitrogen atoms into carbon-14. Unlike stable carbon isotopes, carbon-14 is radioactive and decays over time through the emission of beta particles.
Organisms, during their lifetime, continuously exchange carbon with the environment through the processes of respiration, consumption, and photosynthesis. As a result, the proportion of carbon-14 in their bodies remains roughly constant while they are alive.
When an organism dies, it no longer takes in new carbon, and the carbon-14 it contains begins to decay at a predictable rate. By measuring the ratio of carbon-14 to stable carbon isotopes in a sample, scientists can estimate its age. This is accomplished through a process called radiocarbon dating, where the decay of carbon-14 is compared to a known decay rate to determine the elapsed time.
Radioactive carbon dating has been extensively used in archeology, geology, paleontology, and other scientific fields to establish the age of artifacts, fossils, and other organic remains. However, it should be noted that carbon dating has limitations, such as difficulty in accurately determining the age of samples older than 50,000 years, as the carbon-14 levels diminish to a point where they become undetectable.
