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Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 5,730 years. A squirrel bone found in southwestern Colorado contains 1414 of the carbon-14 of a living squirrel. Approximately how old is the squirrel bone?Multiple choice question.5,730 years11,460 years17,190 years

Question

Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 5,730 years. A squirrel bone found in southwestern Colorado contains 1414 of the carbon-14 of a living squirrel. Approximately how old is the squirrel bone?Multiple choice question.5,730 years11,460 years17,190 years

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Solution

The half-life of Carbon-14 is 5,730 years. This means that after 5,730 years, half of the Carbon-14 in a sample would have decayed.

In this case, the squirrel bone contains 1/4 of the Carbon-14 of a living squirrel. This means that two half-lives have passed, because after one half-life, half the Carbon-14 would remain (1/2), and after another half-life, half of that would remain (1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4).

So, to find the age of the squirrel bone, we multiply the number of half-lives by the length of one half-life:

2 half-lives * 5,730 years/half-life = 11,460 years

So, the squirrel bone is approximately 11,460 years old.

This problem has been solved

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