Question

A paleotndologist finds a bone that might be a sauropod’s bone. In the laboratory, she finds that the Carbon-14 found in the bone is 1/10 of that found in a living bone tissue. Could this bone have belonged to a sauropod? Explain your reasoning. (Hint: The sauropods lived from 200 million years ago to 145 million years ago. The constant for Carbon-14 is 0.00012.)

a.) No, because the amount of Carbon-14 found indicates a period before the sauropods even came into existence.

b.) No, because the amount of Carbon-14 found indicates a period after the sauropods became extinct.

c.) Yes, because the number of years calculated is in the range of 200 million years and 145 million years ago.

d.) Yes, because the amount of Carbon-14 found in the bone is one-tenth of that found in a living bone tissue.

Answer 1

b.) No, because the amount of Carbon-14 found indicates a period after the sauropods became extinct.

Explanation:

From the question, it is determined that the The sauropods lived from 200 million years ago to 145 million years ago. The decay constant of the isotope is 0.000 12. However, these species lived many million years ago. So, there must have been a general decay of the remains. In addition, it is possible to do a carbon dating of the species after the species have been extinct. Thus, (b) is the correct answer.

Answer 2

b.) No, because the amount of Carbon-14 found indicates a period after the sauropods became extinct.

Explanation:

The amount of time corresponding to the fraction found satisfies the equation ...

1/10 = e^(-0.00012t)

ln(1/10) = -0.00012t . . . . . taking natural logs

t = ln(1/10)/-0.00012 ≈ 19,200 . . . . years

19000 years is much different from 145 million years, so the bone will be much different from a sauropod bone. The bone found is from a time later than the last living sauropod.