Absolute Dating

• Spontaneous decay of radioactive elements (parent) to new elements (daughters).

  • Rate is independent of environmental factors.

• Half-lives of some elements (Table 8.1)

  • Carbon-14 (C14) T1/2=5730 years
  • Potassium-40 (K40) T1/2= 1.3 billion years
    • Decays to Argon-40
  • Uranium-238 (U238) T1/2=4.5 billion years
  • Uranium-235 (U235) T1/2=0.7 billion years
    • Decays to Lead-207

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