Carbon dating presumes that, as long as a plant or animal is alive, the proportion of its carbon that is ¹⁴C is constant.The amount of ¹⁴C in an object made from harvested plants, like paper, will decline exponentially according to the equation , where A represents the amount of ¹⁴C in the object, A_o represents the amount of ¹⁴C in living organisms, and t is the time in years since the plant was harvested.If an archeological artifact has 35% as much ¹⁴C as a living organism, how old would you predict it to be? Round to the nearest year. A)5715 years B)29,310 years C)93 years D)8655 years E)15,427 years

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Using the given equation, we can set A/A_o equal to 0.35 (since the artifact has 35% as much ¹⁴C as a living organism). Then we can solve for t: 0.35 = e^(-0.000120968t) ln(0.35) = -0.000120968t t = -ln(0.35)/0.000120968 t ≈ 8655 years, rounded to the nearest year. Therefore, the artifact is approximately 8655 years old.

Carbon Dating Presumes That, as Long as a Plant or Animal