Question

A student in Greece discovers a pottery

bowl that contains 48% of its original
amount of C-14.
N = Noe
-kt
No inital amount of C-14 (at time
=
t = 0)
N = amount of C-14 at time t
k = 0.0001
t = time, in years

Find the age of the pottery bowl to the nearest year

Answer 1

7340 years

Explanation:

You want to know the age of a pottery bowl if 48% of its C-14 remains, given the equation for the remaining amount is N = N0·e^(-0.0001t).

Years

Solving for t, we find ...

N/N0 = e^(-0.0001t) . . . . . . divide by N0

ln(N/N0) = -0.0001t . . . . . . . take natural logs

t = ln(N/N0)/-0.0001 = ln(0.48)/-0.0001 ≈ 7340

The age of the pottery bowl is about 7340 years.

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