Final answer:
Dendrochronology is the method of dating involving tree rings, which provides annual dating precision. Radiocarbon dating uses carbon-14 decay to date organic materials up to 50,000 years old and can be cross-verified through dendrochronology.
Step-by-step explanation:
The scientific method involved in dating by examining tree rings is known as dendrochronology. This technique measures the annual growth rings in trees to determine chronological dates for various uses, such as dating ancient wood structures or environmental studies. Tree rings vary in width year by year, depending on environmental conditions, and can be precisely dated to specific years. Radiocarbon dating, also an absolute dating method, uses the decay of the carbon isotope carbon-14 to determine the age of organic materials up to about 50,000 years old.
Carbon-14 dating is commonly used for archaeological dating and can be verified through methods like dendrochronology. This method relies on the fact that once a living organism dies, it stops absorbing carbon-14, allowing scientists to measure the remaining carbon-14 and determine when the organism died. For dating inorganic materials or comparing geological ages, relative dating techniques are utilized to deduce the order of events.