Question

Why is 14C dating a good method to use for dating a human leg bone but not so good a method for dating a dinosaur bone? You may have to check the dates of the existence of humans and dinosaurs on earth on a chart showing the geological eras?

Answer 1

Dinosaurs existed millions of years ago

Step-by-step explanation:

The most widely known form of dating is carbon-14 dating. Archaeologists use radiocarbon dating in determine the age of human-made artifacts. But carbon-14 dating cannot be used to determine the age of dinosaur bones. The half-life of carbon-14 is only 5,730 years, so carbon-14 dating is only effective on samples that are less than 50,000 years old. Dinosaur bones, are millions of years old -- some of the known fossils are billions of years old. To determine the ages of these specimens, scientists need an isotope that has a very long half-life. Some of the isotopes that may be suitable for this purpose are uranium-238, uranium-235 and potassium-40, each of which has a half-life of more than a million years.

Answer 2

Here is the correct answer of the given question above. 14C dating is a good method to use for dating a human leg but not so good method for dating a dinosaur bone because carbon-14 has a half life of 5,730±40 years. Based on this information, 14C does not have the enough ability based on the span or years to detect a dinosaur bone. Hope this answer helps.