Re: [Phys-L] carbon dating

[Daniel MacIsaac <danmacisaac@gmail.com>]

For HS/intro physics Wikipedia looks good on Carbon-14; 
including discussion of the atomic testing C-14 atmospheric pulse in the 60’s and 
the relative depletion of atmospheric C-14 from burning fossil fuels, etc


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-14;
Carbon-14
en.wikipedia.org

Dan MacIsaac, PhD. he/him <macisadl@buffalostate.edu>
AAPT Fellow;  Professor and Chair, Dept of Physics
State Univ of NY (SUNY) Buffalo State Univ. SAMC278 / 162A
1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY 14222 USA 1-716-878-3802
<https://physics.buffalostate.edu/>






Just because I sometimes send emails at odd hours outside of rational work time does not mean I expect you to do so as well.





> On Dec 4, 2024, at 09:42, Anthony Lapinski via Phys-l <phys-l@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:
>
> 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?
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