Final answer:
No, carbon-14 will not completely disappear from nature as it is continuously replenished by cosmic rays that interact with nitrogen in the atmosphere. The answer is B.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question relates to whether all carbon-14 in nature will eventually disappear. No, carbon-14 is constantly replenished by cosmic rays. Carbon-14 is a naturally occurring radioisotope produced in the atmosphere when cosmic rays interact with nitrogen. This process is ongoing, maintaining a consistent level of carbon-14 in the environment. Living organisms take in carbon-14 throughout their lives, but once they die, they no longer ingest it, causing the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 to decline as carbon-14 decays over time. Since carbon-14 is continuously created, it does not completely disappear from nature.
Carbon-14 dating, or radiocarbon dating, relies on this principle to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years, and it decays into nitrogen-14. Scientists use the ratio of carbon-14 in a sample to the amount in the atmosphere to calculate the age of organic material, making carbon dating a valuable tool in archeology and other sciences.