An archeologist on a dig finds a fragment of an ancient | StudySoup

Textbook Solutions for Physics with MasteringPhysics

Chapter 32 Problem 35P

Question

Problem 35P

An archeologist on a dig finds a fragment of an ancient basket woven from grass. Later, it is determined that the carbon-14 content of the grass in the basket is 9.25% that of an equal carbon sample from present-day grass. What is the age of the basket?

Solution

Step 1 of 3

The radioactive decay of carbon-14 can be used to determine the age of fossilized remains.

One way to solve this is to first solve for the decay constant , then substitute the equation

 

Here, we present an alternative, we count the number of half-lives that have passed, and multiply it to , which is the half-life of carbon-14.

Subscribe to view the
full solution

Title Physics with MasteringPhysics 4 
Author James S. Walker
ISBN 9780321541635

An archeologist on a dig finds a fragment of an ancient

Chapter 32 textbook questions

×

Login

Organize all study tools for free

Or continue with
×

Register

Sign up for access to all content on our site!

Or continue with

Or login if you already have an account

×

Reset password

If you have an active account we’ll send you an e-mail for password recovery

Or login if you have your password back