Chapter 19, Problem 19.73QP

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

Percent of carbon-14 originally present in the sample after $50,000yr$ has to be identified.

Concept Introduction:

• Radiocarbon dating is the method for determining age by comparing the amount of carbon-14 to the amount of carbon-12 in a sample.
• Number of radioactive nuclei at time zero $\left(N_0\right)$ and time $t$$\left(N_t\right)$ is given by

$\ln \frac{N_t}{N_0}=-\lambda t$

• Half-life of the reaction is given by

$t_{1/2}=\frac{0.693}{\lambda }$