In a piece of rock from the Moon, the 87Rb content is assayed to be 1.82 x 1010 atoms per gram of material and the 87 Sr content is found to be 1.07 x 10° atoms per gram. (The relevant decay is 87 Rb → 87 Sr + e. The half-life of the decay is 4.8 x 1010 yr.) (a) Determine the age of the rock. (b) Could the material in the rock actually be much older? (c) What assumption is implicit in using the radioactive- dating method?

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Chapter1: Units, Trigonometry. And Vectors
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In a piece of rock from the Moon, the 87Rb content
is assayed to be 1.82 x 1010 atoms per gram of material and
the 87 Sr content is found to be 1.07 x 10° atoms per gram.
(The relevant decay is 87 Rb → 87 Sr + e. The half-life of the
decay is 4.8 x 1010 yr.) (a) Determine the age of the rock.
(b) Could the material in the rock actually be much older?
(c) What assumption is implicit in using the radioactive-
dating method?
Transcribed Image Text:In a piece of rock from the Moon, the 87Rb content is assayed to be 1.82 x 1010 atoms per gram of material and the 87 Sr content is found to be 1.07 x 10° atoms per gram. (The relevant decay is 87 Rb → 87 Sr + e. The half-life of the decay is 4.8 x 1010 yr.) (a) Determine the age of the rock. (b) Could the material in the rock actually be much older? (c) What assumption is implicit in using the radioactive- dating method?
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