Some people can get confused with carbon dating. Most people think it is used to show the age of a fossil or a rock. The rocks and fossils are called "inorganic matter" it is called that because it is not a living thing if it was a living thing then it would be called "organic matter". Carbon dating is usually only useful for organic matter that is less than 3-5,000 years old. I'm not sure if this helped but I hope you get the answer.