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Question 613732: The half-life of carbon-14 is 5700 years. Find the age of a sample at which 40% of the radioactive nuclei originally present have decayed
Answer by lwsshak3(11628)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! The half-life of carbon-14 is 5700 years. Find the age of a sample at which 40% of the radioactive nuclei originally present have decayed
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Carbon 14 Dating Formula:A=Ao2^-t/h, A=amt of radioactive material remaining after time t, Ao=amt initially present, h=half life of the material.
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Amt of material present=60%
60%Ao=Ao*2^-t/5700
0.6=2^-t/5700
take log of both sides
log(.6)=-t/5700 log(2)
-t/5700=log(.6)/log(2)
-t=[log(.6)/log(2)]*5700≈-4200
sample is approximately 4200 years old
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