Final answer:
C-14, or Carbon-14, undergoes beta decay, a process where it emits a beta particle and transforms into nitrogen-14. This decay is exploited in radiocarbon dating, helping to determine the age of carbon-bearing materials by measuring the remaining ¹⁴C in a sample relative to stable carbon isotopes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process C-14 goes through is decay.
Carbon-14, or ¹⁴C, is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope of carbon. In the upper atmosphere, cosmic rays strike nitrogen atoms, resulting in the formation of ¹⁴C. This isotope then gets incorporated into living organisms through carbon exchange processes like photosynthesis and respiration. Once an organism dies, it stops exchanging carbon with the environment, which means that the ¹⁴C it contains begins to decay.
The decay of Carbon-14 is known as beta decay, during which a beta particle (which can be an electron or a positron) is emitted, and the ¹⁴C atom transmutes into stable nitrogen-14 (¹⁴N). This process of decay is utilized in the technique known as radiocarbon dating, which is used to determine the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years old.
Carbon-14 has a half-life of approximately 5,730 years. Over this period, the proportion of ¹⁴C to stable carbon isotopes like ¹C will decrease by half, providing a clock to estimate how long it has been since the organism's death. Beta decay of ¹⁴C is a key tool for understanding natural processes and the dating of archaeological and geological samples.