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What is the half-life of 14C?

A) about 12 years
B) 5700 years
C) 20 minutes
D) 1 billion years
E) 2 weeks

1 Answer

5 votes

Final answer:

The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years, which is used in carbon-14 dating to estimate the age of organic artifacts up to about 50,000 years old.

Step-by-step explanation:

The half-life of carbon-14 (14C) is 5730 years. Therefore, the answer to the question is B) 5700 years. Half-life is defined as the time required for half of a sample of a radioactive substance to decay. Carbon-14 dating utilizes this property to determine the age of organic artifacts, which is effective for materials up to about 50,000 years old. For instance, if an archaeological wooden object exhibits half the 14C:12C ratio of a living tree, this indicates that it is approximately 5730 years old.

User Semyon Tikhonenko
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