http://www.ck12.org Chapter 3. Chemical Interactions
FIGURE 3.115
Summary
- The age of a rock or other specimen can be estimated from the remaining amount of a radioisotope it contains
and the radioisotope’s known rate of decay, or half-life. This method of dating specimens is called radioactive
dating. - Radioisotopes with longer half-lives are used to date older specimens, and those with shorter half-lives are
used to date younger ones. - Carbon-14 dating is used to date specimens younger than about 60,000 years old. It is commonly used to date
fossils of living things and human artifacts.
Vocabulary
- radioactive dating: Method of determining the age of fossils or rocks that is based on the rate of decay of
radioisotopes.
Explore More
Play the radioactive dating game at the following URL, and then answer the questions below. http://phet.colorado
.edu/en/simulation/radioactive-dating-game
- What is the half-life of carbon-14? What is the half-life of uranium-238?