78.9k views
0 votes
Why is radioactive decay a good method of measuring the absolute age of ancient fossils

User Stepagrus
by
5.2k points

2 Answers

5 votes

Answer:

All ancient fossils contain C-14

Step-by-step explanation:

All living things contain more than one isotope of carbon, the most prominent being, carbon -12 and carbon-14.

Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon. When the artifact is retrieved, the activity of carbon-14 in that sample is matched with the carbon-14 activity of a living organism. When this is done, the age of the fossil can easily be accurately calculated.

User Nerfologist
by
5.8k points
4 votes
radioactive decay is a good method of measuring the absolute age of ancient fossils because radioactive decay could be measure and confront again time in the most trusted and verifiable way, as it allows to have a degree of certainty that other measurements have not yet reached. it is also easy to test and compare with other methods.
User Jamie Shepherd
by
4.8k points