Altoona Community College archaeology professor; Iowa Jones, PhD; was on a summe

Question

Altoona Community College archaeology professor; Iowa Jones, PhD; was on a summer dig in Northern Afghanistan (working with the Afghan Museum) when he found a golden statue of Budda sculpted in a classic Bronze Age Greek style. The statue seemed authentic but in order to authenticate it Dr Jones sent a small sample of the wooden base of the statue and a wood sample from a living tree near the dig to the lab for radio dating. The wood sample from the living tree was found to have an activity of 560 counts/hour for 14C while the sample from the base of the statue had an activity of 450 counts/hour. What is the approximate age of the base in years? t1/2 for 14C is 5730 years, there are 8766 hours in a year (on average). PLEASE INCLUDE CLEAR STEPS ON HOW TO SOLVE AS WELL! THANK YOU!

Explanation / Answer

t1/2 = 5730 years

Radio active decay follows first order kinetics.

Hence the rate constant is given by

k = 0.693 / t1/2

k = 0.693 / 5730 = 1.21 x 10^-4 (years)^-1

Age of the base is given by

t = ln(No/N)/k

t = ln(560/450)/(1.21x10^-4)

t = 1.81 x 10^3 years

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.