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Carbon-14 is in all living things and decays after it dies. It has a long half life (the time it takes for half a sample to decay into another element) and gives a good estimate as to how old something is.

Carbon dating is only effective up to an approximate age of 70,000 years, and is only useful in dating organic matter. Since the vast majority of fossils are much older than this, carbon dating is not particularly useful in dating fossils, but is of great use in Archaeology.

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13y ago
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5mo ago

Scientists use Carbon-14 dating to determine the age of organic materials by measuring the amount of Carbon-14 remaining in a sample. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a known half-life, so by comparing the ratio of Carbon-14 to stable Carbon-12 in a sample, scientists can calculate its age. This method is effective for dating relatively young fossils up to around 60,000 years old.

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12y ago

The C-14 is carbon 14 it is a certain type carbon. Carbon 14 has a half life of 5,730 years and by checking the amount of the carbon 14 is in a fossil the can see how old it is. After 11,460 years c-14 dating is useless.

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7y ago

The half life of C 14 is 5730 years. After a few half lives its useless.

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Q: How do scientists use Carbon-14 to date fossils?
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What are facts about paleontology?

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How do you scientists use rocks and fossils to understand age and geological history?

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Related questions

What do scientists use to determine a fossil's relative age?

Carbon14 dating (isotopic dating)


What evidence do scientists use to study the ancient dinosaur?

Scientists use mainly fossils.


What is the usage of the geological time scale?

The use of it is so they can date all of the fossils and stuff for scientists to study and see what it was like in the past.


What do scientists use the fossil record for?

Recording fossils No.


What two things must scientist measure to find the absolute age of a rock?

scientists use carbon14 and potassium argon to find absolute age of rock


What geologists able to tell archaeologist about fossils?

How do archaeologists date fossils ? archaeologist can date fossills by seeingf how deep down it is in the ground [ checking how many layers ] , scientists can use radio-active dating, and compare a fossil that they know the exact date that it was from compare the looks and tell by that


What are geologists able to tell archaeologists about fossils?

How do archaeologists date fossils ? archaeologist can date fossills by seeingf how deep down it is in the ground [ checking how many layers ] , scientists can use radio-active dating, and compare a fossil that they know the exact date that it was from compare the looks and tell by that


What two things must scientist measure to find the absolute ages of rocks?

scientists use carbon14 and potassium argon to find absolute age of rock


What are two common tools that scientists use when cleaning fossils?

bacon


How do archaeologists date fossils?

Scientists take samples of the carbon remaining in the fossil. They then use a form of carbon dating to determine its age. (it doesn't have to be a fossil, it could be any ancient remain, even a skull from fifty years ago, or a plate from the 1700's. Just wanted to clarify that a little bit more!)


Which method dating would you use with frozen fossils?

Among many methods, carbon dating is most commonly used to date fossils. In carbon dating, scientists look at how much carbon is left in the fossil, look at the half-life period, and use that to see when it was from.


What are the four step scientists use to study fossils?

Scientists use the following four steps to study fossils: 1. Excavation - careful digging to uncover fossils, 2. Preparation - cleaning and preserving fossils, 3. Description - documenting physical characteristics of fossils, and 4. Analysis - using various methods to interpret the fossils' age, environment, and relationships to other organisms.