![]() It starts with cosmic rays-subatomic particles of matter that continuously rain upon Earth from all directions. Radiocarbon dating was also instrumental in the discovery of human-caused climate change, as scientists used it to track the sources of carbon in the atmosphere over time. Carbon dating has helped us reveal how our bodies work, to understand the climate of the Earth and reconstruct its history, and to track the sun’s activity and the Earth’s magnetic fields. The breakthrough introduced a new scientific rigor to archaeology, allowing archaeologists to put together a history of humans across the world, but it had a significant effect in other fields, too. The technique was developed in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago by chemistry professor Willard Libby, who would later receive the Nobel Prize for the work. Scientists can estimate how long the organism has been dead by counting the remaining carbon-14 atoms. ![]() When they die, the carbon-14 starts to change into other atoms over time. It is based on the fact that living organisms-like trees, plants, people, and animals-absorb carbon-14 into their tissue. The invention of radiocarbon dating elegantly merged chemistry and physics to develop a scientific method that can accurately determine the age of organic materials as old as approximately 60,000 years. What discoveries has carbon-14 testing revealed?.Has radiocarbon dating improved over the years?. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |