Question

Skeletal remains had lost 83% of the C-14 they originally contained. Determine the approximate age of the bones. (Assume the half life of carbon-14 is 5730 years. Round your answer to the nearest whole number.)

Answer 1

14,648 years

Explanation:

The amount remaining is ...

1 - 0.83 = 0.5^(t/5730) . . . . . . . half-life equation

log(0.17) = (t/5730)log(0.5) . . . . take the log of both sides

t = 5730·log(0.17)/log(0.5) ≈ 14,648

The approximate age of the bones is 14,648 years.