CARBON 14 DATING
name _____________________
Log into Mr. Seefeldt’s web page and open the link to How Stuff Works carbon 14 dating.
Read the page.
1. Carbon-14 dating uses __________________________ to determine the age of objects.
2. Carbon-14 dating is only useful for dating things that were once ______________________.
Watch the video.
3. What happens to the amount of carbon-14 in a plant or animal once it dies? _____________
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4. How is the age of a sample determined?___________________________________________
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Go back, then click “next page” and read the next page.
5. Using the periodic table of elements, what is the atomic number of nitrogen? ____________
6. How many protons does a nitrogen atom have? ___________
7. How do they compare? ________________________________________________________
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8. What is the atomic number of Carbon? ____________
9. How many protons does a carbon atom have? _____________
10. How do they compare? _______________________________________________________
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11. Using nitrogen and carbon as your examples, what relationship between atomic numbers
the number of protons in an atom? ________________________________________________
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12. When nitrogen-14 is hit with a neutron, what does it lose?___________________________
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13. By losing a ___________________________ the nitrogen becomes a
_______________________ atom.
Watch the video.
14. If object A has more carbon-14 than object B it means that object A is older/younger (circle
one). Explain.__________________________________________________________________
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15. Why do you think carbon-14 dating can only measure things up to 60,000 years old?
______________________________________________________________________________
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Go back, then click “next page” and watch video.
16 and 17. Write two questions you have about carbon-14 dating.