Question

the cloth shroud found around a mummy was found to have a carbon-14 activity of 9.7disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon. in living organisms, its activity is 16.3disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon. if the half-life of carbon-14 is 5715 yr,determine the age of this shroud.

Answer 1

The age of the shroud is approximately 1560 years.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the age of the shroud, we can use the concept of half-life and compare the carbon-14 activity in the shroud with the activity in living organisms. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5715 years. The shroud has a carbon-14 activity of 9.7 disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon, while living organisms have an activity of 16.3 disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon. We can use the formula for half-life to calculate the age:

Age = (time) x (ln(initial activity/final activity)) / (ln(2))

Using the given values, the age of the shroud is approximately 1560 years.