How old is a bone in which the Carbon-14 in it has undergone 3 half-lives? A) 11,400 years old Eliminate B) 17,100 years old C) 34,200 years old D) 57,000 years old

Question

Biology

Larry Yu

3 October, 13:44

How old is a bone in which the Carbon-14 in it has undergone 3 half-lives? A) 11,400 years old Eliminate B) 17,100 years old C) 34,200 years old D) 57,000 years old

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Answers (1)

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Shania Cortez · Answer 1

For this problem, we use the formula for radioactive decay which is expressed as follows:

An = Aoe^-kt

where An is the amount left after time t, Ao is the initial amount and k is a constant.

We calculate as follows:

at hal-life equal to 5700,

An = Aoe^-kt

0.5 = e^-k (5700)

k = 1.22x10^-4

An = Aoe^-kt

1.5 = e^-1.22x10^-4 (t)

t = 3323 years