What is the age BP P of a bone fragment that shows an average of 3.5 disintegrat
ID: 798727 • Letter: W
Question
What is the age BP Pof a bone fragment that shows an average of 3.5 disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon in 2005? The carbon in living organisms undergoes an average of 15.3 disintegrations per minute per gram, and the half-life of 14C is 5730 years.
I worked it out and got 13,750 and it says "Your answer either contains an incorrect additive numerical constant or is missing one" WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?! HELP!! What is the age BP P
of a bone fragment that shows an average of 3.5 disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon in 2005? The carbon in living organisms undergoes an average of 15.3 disintegrations per minute per gram, and the half-life of 14C is 5730 years.
I worked it out and got 13,750 and it says "Your answer either contains an incorrect additive numerical constant or is missing one" WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?! HELP!! I worked it out and got 13,750 and it says "Your answer either contains an incorrect additive numerical constant or is missing one" WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?! HELP!!
Explanation / Answer
First, we will find out the ratio of the radioactivity of the bone fragment to the radioactivity of the carbon from living organisms.
Ratio = 3.5cpm / 15.3cpm
Ratio = 0.228
We will now calculate the number of half lives old the bone fragment is
2^-n = 0.228
-n * ln2 = ln 0.228
-n * 0.69314718 = -1.478
n = 2.171
Now we will calculate the age of the bone fragment
t = n * t(1/2)
= 2.171 * 5730years
t =12439years
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