Vi ber deg nok en gang om å holde indentiteten deres hemmelig! Radioactive elements were incorporated into the Earth when the Solar System formed.If an igneous or other rock is metamorphosed, its radiometric clock is reset, and potassium-argon measurements can be used to tell the number of years that has passed since metamorphism.Carbon-14 is a method used for young (less than 50,000 year old) sedimentary rocks.It can be used on objects as old as about 62,000 years.Follow the links below to learn more about radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating uses carbon isotopes A special kind of radiocarbon dating: Bomb radiocarbon dating What is an isotope?Radioactive decay occurs at a constant rate, specific to each radioactive isotope.Since the 1950s, geologists have used radioactive elements as natural "clocks" for determining numerical ages of certain types of rocks. "Forms" means the moment an igneous rock solidifies from magma, a sedimentary rock layer is deposited, or a rock heated by metamorphism cools off.

Over the years, carbon 14 dating has also found applications in geology, hydrology, geophysics, atmospheric science, oceanography, paleoclimatology, and even biomedicine.All rocks and minerals contain tiny amounts of these radioactive elements.Radioactive elements are unstable; they breakdown spontaneously into more stable atoms over time, a process known as radioactive decay.The impact of the radiocarbon dating technique on modern man has made it one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century.No other scientific method has managed to revolutionize man’s understanding not only of his present but also of events that already happened thousands of years ago.Plants and animals assimilate carbon 14 from carbon dioxide throughout their lifetimes.When they die, they stop exchanging carbon with the biosphere and their carbon 14 content then starts to decrease at a rate determined by the law of radioactive decay.