The half-life of C-14 is about 5730 yr. a) Archaeologists find a p

smismSitlougsyy

smismSitlougsyy

Answered question

2021-11-14

The half-life of C-14 is about 5730 yr.
a) Archaeologists find a piece of cloth painted with organic dyes. Analysis of the dye in the cloth shows that only 77% of the C-14 originally in the dye remains. When was the cloth painted?
b) A well-preserved piece of wood found at an archaeological site has 6.2% of the C-14 that it had when it was alive. Estimate when the wood was cut.

Answer & Explanation

Anot1954

Anot1954

Beginner2021-11-15Added 16 answers

Step 1
Carbon dating The half-life of C-14 is about 5730 yr. We have to answer the following.
a) Archaeologists find a piece of cloth painted with organic dyes. Analysis of the dye in the cloth shows that only 77% of the C-14 originally in the dye remains. When was the cloth painted?
Let the decay function
y(t)=y0ekt
represents the amount of C-14 in the dye t years since the cloths were painted. By the half-time formula,
T12=5730yr
the rate constant is
k=ln2T12=ln277301.21×104yr1
Assume that the amount of C-14 in the dye when the cloths were painted is y0. Over t years, the amount of C-14 in the dye decays to 77% of its original value or 0.77y0. Using the decay function, we have
0.77y0=y0e1.21×104t
Canceling and taking natural ln on both sides, we get
1.21×104t=ln0.77
t=ln0.771.21×104
t2160yr
Therefore, the clothes were painted 2160 years ago.
Step 2
b. A well-preserved piece of wood found at an archaeological site has 6.2% of the C-14 that it had when it was alive. Estimate when the wood was cut.
Again, the decay function y(t)=y0ekt represents the amount of C-14 in the piece of wood t years after it was cut. The rate constant is calculated in (a) to be k1.21×104yr1. Assume that the amount of C-14 in the wood when it was alive is y0. Over t years, the amount of C-14 in the wood decay to 6.2% of its original value or 0.062y0. Using the decay function, we have
0.062y0=y0e1.21×104t
Canceling y0 and taking ln on both sides, we get
1.21×104t=ln0.062
t=ln0.0621.21×104
t22,980yr
We can conclude that the wood was cut around 22,980 years ago.

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