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17.How does radiometric dating help scientists pinpoint the age of a fossil?

A.Radiometric dating allows scientists to find fossils in only the lowest and oldest layers of sediment.

B.Radiometric dating shows the rate of decay of radioactive material present in any object. Scientists can use that data to find the absolute age of the fossil.

C.In radiometric dating, scientists mix the carbon in a fossil with carbon from similar fossils whose age they know. By comparing the carbon they can tell the exact age of the fossil.

D.In radiometric dating, scientists place samples of a fossil in certain liquids until the samples dissolve. The rate at which they dissolve indicates the age of the fossil.

2007-02-18 16:01:53 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics Biology

5 answers

B looks the best
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating#Modern_dating_techniques

2007-02-18 16:09:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

A is not true because even fossils in higher layers of sediment have decayed a number of half-lives.

B and only B...IS THE CORRECT ANSWER...although, due to reasons stated below, saying the age measured is "exact" is, as the last answerer note, a bit of a stretch.

C is wrong because the material is only measured for isotopes by itself...in fact, other materials present in the area (such as gases) can hinder the accuracy of the mass spectrometer's readings

D is wrong because the samples do not dissolve...a mass spectrometer is used to measure the parent vs. daughter isotopes (the more daughter isotopes the older the material and the more half lifes that have passed)

2007-02-18 16:10:42 · answer #2 · answered by M S 5 · 1 0

B is the best answer.

You need to be careful when using carbon dating. Carbon dating assumes that nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted to radioactive carbon 14 in the atmosphere at a constant rate.
In the past few hundred years, we've bollixed that by adding "old" carbon 12 to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels -- so organisms recently deceased or still living will carbon-date to much older than they really are.

2007-02-18 16:42:31 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

of course I wasn't there, so i can not know for advantageous how old the earth is. listed right here are some issues to think of roughly. 6000 years is derived by ability of including up each and all of the generations in the Bible. there's achievable that the checklist is only the highlights and omits a super sort of human beings. alongside with this thinking, the observe "day" in Genesis ought to point a span of time and not 24 hours. The 6000 years is supported by ability of inhabitants study. Assuming the inhabitants enhance became into comparable in the time of time, we are able to work out that it may be approximately 6000 years. Carbon relationship. How do all of us know how lots carbon became into in at present ineffective issues lower back then? Carbon relationship assumes this. it is likewise theory that if a newly killed animal is placed in very old rocks, the carbon is going to leech into the fossil and make it look older than that's. Carbon relationship is barely sturdy for a undeniable span of time. Radiometric relationship assumes some issues additionally. It assumes that radiation 0.5-existence has been consistent consistently. there is a few thinking that it ought to no longer have been. It additionally looks at quite a few particular lead isotopes, and positively, i think of it sort of looks like a sturdy theory. It assumes, regardless of the undeniable fact that, that there have been none of those lead isotopes in there at the beginning. So, the base line for me is - i do no longer know for advantageous. What i know for advantageous is that there is passable data that Jesus' got here, died, and rose lower back. I additionally know that there are various fulfilled prophesies in the Bible. I could do some thing with those. forget approximately approximately them, attempt to describe them away, or check out them and spot if there is a few thing to Christianity.

2016-11-23 17:54:23 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

The "correct" answer is B. However, to call the age determined by radiometric dating "absolute" is a bit of a stretch.

2007-02-18 16:09:59 · answer #5 · answered by poolshark_63 2 · 1 0

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