Trying to teach "basic" radioactivity to my high school astronomy students
about the age of the Earth.
My understanding is this:
Cosmic rays hit N-14 (7p, 7n) in the atmosphere to create C-14 (6 p, 8 n).
Plants take CO2 from atmosphere. Animal eats plants. Animal dies.
C-14 then decays into N-14 with a half-life of 5730 years, etc.
(Inorganic materials - use isotopes with longer half-lives...)
So how does N-14 become C-14? Nuclear forces? Quarks?