Carbon dating

Why in news?

• Recently a court in Varanasi has rejected a plea requesting carbon dating into the structure (claimed to be shivling) found inside Gyanvapi Mosque.

About Carbon dating:

• Carbon dating is a widely-used method to establish the age of organic materials. The dating method is based on the fact that Carbon-14 (C-14), an isotope of carbon with an atomic mass of 14, is radioactive, and decays at a well-known rate.
• It is developed by American physicist Willard F. Libby.

How does it work?

• The most abundant isotope of carbon in the atmosphere is C-12. A very small amount of C-14 is also present. The ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the atmosphere is almost static and is known. The changing ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the remains of a plant or animal after it dies can be measured, and can be used to deduce the approximate time when the organism died.
• However, carbon dating cannot be used to determine the age of non-living things like rocks.

Other methods:

• Radiometric dating methods:
  • Here, instead of carbon, decays of other radioactive elements that might be present in the material become the basis for the dating method.
• Cosmogenic nuclide dating:
  • It is regularly applied to study the age of ice cores in Polar Regions.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

“Radiocarbon dating? is a widely used method to

1. Measure the carbon footprint of firms and individuals

2. Establish the age of organic materials

3. Identify undesirable animal or plant materials in processed foods

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 3 only

(c) 2 only

(d) 2 and 3 only

Answer