Let’s assume that researchers find a new Greenland shark and take a sample of the proteins from the shark’s eye lens. How old is the shark if 96.7% of the initial carbon-14 in the proteins remains? The half-life for carbon-14 is 5730 years.
Hi, I need help with this step-by-step, please. Thank you.
Even more interesting is how the researchers determined the age of the sharks. Normally, you
could look at the decay of carbon-14 in the bone of an animal to determine its age. By comparing
the current amount of carbon-14 in the bone to the amount of carbon-14 that was in the bone
initially, you can determine how much time has passed (the age of the animal). This doesn’t
work with Greenland sharks, though! Greenland sharks don’t have bones. They just have
cartilage. Researchers determined, however, that the carbon-14 in certain proteins in the eye lens
of the sharks could be dated because those proteins are set from the time that the shark is born
and are never replaced (most proteins in living organisms are constantly being broken down and
replaced, but not these proteins in the eye lens of the Greenland shark!).
[Here’s the problem to solve and the information you need to solve it.] Let’s assume that
researchers find a new Greenland shark and take a sample of the proteins from the shark’s eye
lens. How old is the shark if 96.7% of the initial carbon-14 in the proteins remains? The half-life
for carbon-14 is 5730 years.
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps with 2 images
