Carbon-14 Dating Quiz

What is the maximum age of organic materials that carbon-14 dating can accurately determine?

• 10,000 years

• 25,000 years

• 60,000 years

• 100,000 years

When was carbon-14 dating first developed?

• In the early 1900s

• In the late 1940s

• In the 1960s

• In the 1980s

Which living organisms absorb carbon-14 into their tissue?

• Only trees

• Only animals

• Trees, plants, people, and animals

• Only plants and animals

Who developed the technique of carbon-14 dating?

• Albert Einstein

• Marie Curie

• Willard Libby

• Rosalind Franklin

What did Willard Libby receive for his work on carbon-14 dating?

• A Presidential Medal of Freedom

• A Nobel Prize

• A Pulitzer Prize

• A knighthood

What is the origin of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 used in radiocarbon dating?

• It is produced by the decay of uranium in the soil.

• It is formed through physical and chemical interactions when cosmic rays reach Earth's upper atmosphere.

• It is a byproduct of industrial emissions.

• It is extracted from deep-sea fossils.

What happens to carbon-14 in living organisms after they die?

• It continues to be absorbed at a constant rate.

• It begins to increase in quantity.

• It begins very slowly to change into other atoms at a predictable rate.

• It completely disappears from the organism's tissue.

What allows scientists to estimate the time since an organic object's death using radiocarbon dating?

• The constant production of carbon-14 in the atmosphere.

• The rate at which carbon-14 is absorbed by living organisms.

• The predictable rate at which carbon-14 changes into other atoms after absorption stops.

• The total amount of carbon-14 found in the Earth's crust.

On what objects can radiocarbon dating be used?

• Only on pieces of animals and people

• Only on plants and paper

• Any object that used to be alive, including pieces of animals, people, plants, paper, leather, and logs

• Only on objects made of stone and metal

Who invented carbon dating?

• Martin Kamen

• Sam Ruben

• Willard Libby

• Albert Einstein