A 1-gram sample of wood is taken from an ancient site.If the Carbon-14 activity of the sample is 19.0% that of present-day organic material,what is the age of the wood? (T_1/2 for ¹⁴C is 5 730 years)

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The age of the wood can be calculated using the formula for radioactive decay: $ N(t) = N_0 \times (1/2)^{t/T_{1/2}} $. Given that the activity is 19.0% of the original, we set $ N(t)/N_0 = 0.19 $. Solving $ 0.19 = (1/2)^{t/5730} $ gives $ t \approx 13,730 $ years.

A 1-Gram Sample of Wood Is Taken from an Ancient