Fossil Formation and Exact Age Quiz

What is Carbon Dating used for?

• To find the exact age of a specimen
• To find the amount of Carbon in a specimen
• To find how long ago Carbon was put into a specimen
• To find how much Carbon-12 there is in a specimen

Carbon Dating uses the isotope, _____ , to find the age of a specimen

• Carbon-14
• Carbon-0
• Carbonized Carbon Carb-Car
• Carbon-6

To find the exact age of a specimen using Carbon Dating, you compare how much Carbon-14 there was in the specimen when it died to _____

• How much there is when you found it
• How much there is in the atmosphere
• How much there is in the surrounding area
• How much there was the day before it died

The half life of a radioactive isotope tells you _____

• The amount of time it takes for half of the isotope to decay
• The time it takes for the isotope to break in half
• The time you have to measure the isotope before it is gone
• The time it takes for a Twizzler to be eaten

The half-life of Lead-214 is about 27 minutes. What fraction of an original sample of Lead-214 would be left after 54 minutes?

• 1/2 (50%)
• 1/4 (25%)
• 1/8 (12.5%)
• 3/4 (75%)

A ancient human's arm bone is found in a dig in Europe. There is 25% of the original amount of Carbon-14 still left in the bone. How many Carbon-14 half-lives have passed since this human died?

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Which of the following is true about ancient creatures being fossilized?

• All creatures become fossilized, we just haven't found their remains yet
• Only a small amount of creatures become fossilized - most creatures never are
• Most creatures become fossilized 
• Almost all creatures become fossilized, but some are preserved in amber or ice

Which part(s) of an organism are most likely to become fossilized?

• The "hard" parts (shells, bones, etc)
• The "soft" parts (organs, skin, etc)
• Footprints, poop and other trace elements
• The fine details (blood vessels, nerves, etc)

The idea of uniformitarianism states that _____

• Earth has changed through quick "catastrophes" over the last several thousand years old
• The Earth has changed through gradual changes over billions of years
• All public school students are required to wear a uniform
• The Earth's surface changes at the same rate always

Plant fossils have been used to determine what the _____ millions of years ago

• Climate was like
• Ocean Size was like
• Dinosaurs looked like
• Humans looked like