I hate dating (654 hits)
Category: RomanceRating: 1.73 on 24 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Butch Hero (View user info) at 2007-01-24 14:12:55 EST
Carbon dating is a variety of radioactive dating which is applicable only to matter which was once living and presumed to be in equilibrium with the atmosphere, taking in carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis.
Cosmic ray protons blast nuclei in the upper atmosphere, producing neutrons which in turn bombard nitrogen, the major constituent of the atmosphere . This neutron bombardment produces the radioactive isotope carbon-14. The radioactive carbon-14 combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and is incorporated into the cycle of living things.
The carbon-14 forms at a rate which appears to be constant, so that by measuring the radioactive emissions from once-living matter and comparing its activity with the equilibrium level of living things, a measurement of the time elapsed can be made.
Carbon Dating
Presuming the rate of production of carbon-14 to be constant, the activity of a sample can be directly compared to the equilibrium activity of living matter and the age calculated. Various tests of reliability have confirmed the value of carbon data, and many examples provide an interesting range of application.
Carbon-14 decays with a halflife of about 5730 years by the emission of an electron of energy 0.016 MeV. This changes the atomic number of the nucleus to 7, producing a nucleus of nitrogen-14. At equilibrium with the atmosphere, a gram of carbon shows an activity of about 15 decays per minute.
The low activity of the carbon-14 limits age determinations to the order of 50,000 years by counting techniques. That can be extended to perhaps 100,000 years by accelerator techniques for counting the carbon-14 concentration.
Carbon-14 Equilibrium Activity
Since living organisms continually exchange carbon with the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, the ratio of C-14 to C-12 approaches that of the atmosphere.
From the known half-life of carbon-14 and the number of carbon atoms in a gram of carbon, you can calculate the number of radioactive decays to be about 15 decays per minute per gram of carbon in a living organism.
Radioactive carbon is being created by this process at the rate of about two atoms per second for every square centimeter of the earth's surface." Levin
The rate of production of carbon-14 in the atmosphere seems to be fairly constant. Carbon dating of ancient bristlecone pine trees of ages around 6000 years have provided general corroboration of carbon dating and have provided some corrections to the data.
Reliability of Carbon Dating
Bristlecone Pine Trees
From the dating of ancient bristlecone pine trees from the western U.S., a correction curve for the carbon dating over the range back to 5000 BC has been developed. Trees dated at 4000 BC show the maximum deviation of between 600 and 700 years too young by carbon dating.
Glacier Measurements
Prior to carbon dating methods, the age of sediments deposited by the last ice age was surmised to be about 25000 years. "Radiocarbon dates of a layer of peat beneath the glacial sediments provided an age of only 11,400 years."
These examples are from The Earth Through Time, 2nd Ed. by Harold L. Levin
Krane points out that future carbon dating will not be so reliable because of changes in the carbon isotopic mix. Fossil fuels have no carbon-14 content, and the burning of those fuels over the past 100 years has diluted the carbon-14 content. On the other hand, atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s increased the carbon-14 content of the atmosphere. Krane suggests that this might have doubled the concentration compared to the carbon-14 from cosmic ray production.
Accelerator Techniques for Carbon Dating
Accelerator techniques for carbon dating have extended its range back to about 100,000 years, compared to less than half that for direct counting techniques. One can count atoms of different masses with a mass spectrometer, but that is problematic for carbon dating because of the low concentration of carbon-14 and the existence of nitrogen-14 and CH2 which have essentially the same mass. Cyclotrons and tandem accelerators have both been used to fashion sensitive new mass spectrometer analyses. The tandem accelerator has been effective in removing the nitrogen-14 and CH2, and can be followed by a conventional mass spectrometer to separate the C-12 and C-13. A sensitivity of 10-15 in the 14C/12C ratio has been achieved. These techniques can be applied with a sample as small as a milligram.
User Reviews
Submitted by messmind (user info) at 2007-01-25 03:25:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by jfreakman (user info) at 2007-01-25 03:10:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
har har har
Submitted by onewetleg (user info) at 2007-01-24 22:17:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Very nice, subtle.
The best use of copy and paste I have seen in a while.
Submitted by swimmingbirdblue (user info) at 2007-01-24 21:31:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-01-24 15:39:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i didn't actually read this. but it still amused me.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2007-01-24 15:33:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
*golf clap*
Submitted by The_Drake (user info) at 2007-01-24 15:18:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
agreed
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-01-24 15:15:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:42:43 (#)
Ranking: -2
you actually got mad at the breaking of a +2 streak?
go outside and do something, NOW
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Not real mad, but internet mad.
So now I am internet pissed at you.
Seriously, this is the best spoof post ever.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-01-24 15:13:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:42:43 (#)
Ranking: -2
you actually got mad at the breaking of a +2 streak?
go outside and do something, NOW
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sanctimonious whore
Submitted by The_Drake (user info) at 2007-01-24 15:02:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I actually laughed. Didn't read it, but I laughed.
I got pwned!
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:58:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
WTF I'M NOT READING ALL THAT
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:57:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
NERD!
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:46:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Not mad.
I can't I'm confined to prison... i mean my office. It's not my fault you assholes only post something like once an hour and most of the time it's not good. Somebody write a new story and entertain me or something.
The best laugh I had all day was this comment though:http://www.ubersite.com/m/98000#2288108
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:42:43 (#)
Ranking: -2
you actually got mad at the breaking of a +2 streak?
go outside and do something, NOW
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:42:43 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
you actually got mad at the breaking of a +2 streak?
go outside and do something, NOW
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:40:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:33:42 (#)
Ranking: -2
hahahhaha....no
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Ths is the first time I have got mad at a +2 streak being broken.
Submitted by DudeThatsBOSH (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:36:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i just lit up a cigarette and nodded in agreement.
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:35:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This chick spoiled the party.
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:33:42 (#)
Ranking: -2
hahahhaha....no
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:33:42 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
hahahhaha....no
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:31:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
hahahahhahahaha!
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:30:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by i_can_get_you_a_toe (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:27:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Haha, yeah
Submitted by drgoatcabin (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:22:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Definitely not reading all that. But I get your point.
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:18:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
quick wit and creativity
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2007-01-24 14:17:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Catching on quick.