Question

20 POINTS PLEASE HELP

My brother Jack found a piece of oak while hiking in an Arizonan canyon. My brother Jason was taking a geology class and he thought it might be from ancient times so they ran some experiments and found that the amount of carbon-14 (14C) was approximately 1/64 of the current atmospheric 14C levels. Determine approximately how many years ago the tree was chopped down to be used for the firewood. 14C has a t1/2 of 5,750 years

Use the half life equation

Answer 1

Given that: Amount of carbon-14 (14C) was approximately 1/64 of the current atmospheric 14C levels.

Thus, number of half-life the wood sample has crossed = 6, because 2^6=64

Now, Half life of 14C = 5,750 years
Therefore, 6 Half-lifes of 14C = 6 X 5750 = 34500 years

Thus, tree was chopped down around 34500 years before, to be used for the firewood.