Radiometric Methods of Dating Fossils

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how both carbon-14 and uranium-238 are used to date fossils and how both methods are based on measuring the decay that has occurred in these elements. It looks at how carbon-14 dating is used for organic material, plants and animals, while uranium-238 is used primarily for geographic formations. It also discusses how both methods of dating are subject to potential sample contamination and, therefore, inaccurate readings; the addition of foreign material in both types of samples can provide either younger or older results, dependent on the material.

From the Paper:

"Radioactive elements decay at unique rates, dependant on the isotope. This rate of decay is known as half-lives, it is the time necessary for of the atoms to decay in a particular element. The decay follows a geometric scale, in that in the first half-life of an element, of the atoms decay, yet in the second half-life, of those remaining decay, meaning a of the original atoms decay, and so forth. By measuring this decay, and knowing the half life of an element, scientists can date a sample."

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