Absolute vs Relative Dating

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What is Absolute Dating?

Back

A method used to determine the exact age of a rock or fossil in years, often using radiometric techniques.

Front

What is Relative Dating?

Back

A technique used to determine the age of rocks or fossils in relation to other rocks or fossils, without providing a specific age.

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What is a Half-Life?

Back

The time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay into a daughter isotope.

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Front

What is Carbon-14 Dating?

Back

A method of dating organic materials by measuring the amount of carbon-14 remaining in a sample.

Front

How much Carbon-14 remains after one half-life?

Back

50% of the original amount.

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Front

If you start with 100 grams of a substance with a half-life of 10 years, how much will remain after 20 years?

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25 grams.

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Why is Carbon-14 useful for dating?

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It is present in living organisms and decays at a known rate, allowing scientists to date organic materials up to about 50,000 years old.

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What happens to the amount of a radioactive isotope over time?

Back

It decreases as it decays into stable daughter isotopes.

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Front

What is Strontium-90 used for in dating?

Back

It is used to date materials that are up to about 90 years old due to its relatively short half-life.

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Front

Why are isotopes with long half-lives useful for dating very old rocks?

Back

They remain detectable over geological time scales, allowing for accurate dating.

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8