Explain age of a bone fragment from an archaeological dig


The age of any remains from a once-living organism can be determined by radiocarbon dating, a procedure that works by determining the concentration of radioactive 14C in the remains. All living organisms contain an equilibrium concentration of radioactive 14C that gives rise to an average of 15.3 nuclear decay events per minute per gram of carbon. At death, however, no additional 14C is taken in, so the concentration slowly drops as radioactive decay occurs. What is the age of a bone fragment from an archaeological dig if the bone shows an average of 2.3 radioactive events per minute per gram of carbon? Radioactive decay is kinetically a first-order process, and t1/2 for 14C is 5730 years.

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Chemistry: Explain age of a bone fragment from an archaeological dig
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