Question

In order to understand the prehistory of the Hawaiian island of Lana'i better, anthropologists Maria Sweeney, Melinda Allen, andBoyd Dixon used radiocarbon dating on charcoal found in an ancient dwelling site, the Kaunolu Village National Historic Landmark, the largest archeological complex on the island. In one of their samples, they found that approximately 94% of the original carbon 14 remained. Using the fact that Carbon 14 decays by 1.202% every 100 years, determine the approximate age of this sample.

Answer 1

500 years

Step-by-step explanation:

The original carbon-14 was 100%, and after 100 years, it decays 1.202%. So after 100 years it goes to 98.798%, after more 100 years (200 years), it will be 97.596% (98.798 - 1.202), thus, after n 100 years "package", the percenatge will be:

100% - actual% = n*1.202

n = (100% - actual%)/1.202

n = (100% - 94%)/1.202

n = 4.992

So, the number of years is n*100 = 4.992*100 = 499.2 ≅ 500 years.