Final answer:
The age of the skeleton can be determined using carbon-14 dating. By comparing the amount of carbon-14 in the tissue samples to the expected amount in living tissue, we can estimate the number of half-lives that have elapsed and calculate the age of the skeleton.
In this case, the tissue samples containing about 93.79% of the expected carbon-14 suggest an age of approximately 709 years.
Step-by-step explanation:
The age of the skeleton can be determined using the concept of carbon-14 dating. Carbon-14 is an isotope of carbon that decays over time.
The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years, which means that after 5730 years, half of the carbon-14 in a sample will have decayed. Since the tissue samples from King Richard III's skeleton contain about 93.79% of the expected carbon-14, we can use this information to estimate the age.
By comparing the amount of carbon-14 in the tissue samples to the expected amount in living tissue, we can calculate the number of half-lives that have elapsed.
If the tissue samples contain 93.79% of the expected carbon-14, this means that approximately 6.21% (100% - 93.79%) has decayed. Since each half-life is 5730 years, we can calculate the number of half-lives that have elapsed by dividing 6.21% by 50% (half of 100%).
This gives us approximately 0.1242 half-lives. Multiplying this by the half-life of carbon-14, we find that the skeleton is approximately 709 years old.
Therefore, the answer is a) 500 years.