The technique known as potassium-argon dating is used to date old lava flows and thus any fossilized skeletons found in them, like this 1.8-million-year-old hominid skull. The potassium isotope 40K has a 1.28 billion year half-life and is naturally present at very low levels. 40K decays by beta emission into the stable isotope 40Ar. Argon is a gas, and there is no argon in flowing lava because the gas escapes. Once the lava solidifies, any argon produced in the decay of 40K is trapped inside and cannot escape.
What is the age of a piece of solidified lava with a 40Ar/40K ratio of 0.34?
In billion years