# Carbon dating using exponential growth

A fossil found in an archaeological dig was found to contain 20% of the original amount of 14C. I do not get the $-0.693$ value, but perhaps my answer will help anyway.If we assume Carbon-14 decays continuously, then $$C(t) = C_0e^,$$ where $C_0$ is the initial size of the sample. Since it takes 5,700 years for a sample to decay to half its size, we know $$\frac C_0 = C_0e^,$$ which means $$\frac = e^,$$ so the value of $C_0$ is irrelevant.

The ratio of the amount of 14C to the amount of 12C is essentially constant (approximately 1/10,000). However, I note that there is no beginning or ending amount given.How am I supposed to figure out what the decay constant is?Suppose the clay is in a pipe and as the kerosene flows through the pipe, every foot of clay removes 20% of the pollutants, leaving 80%.If feet of pipe can be represented by the following equation: Suppose that the pollutants must be reduced to 10% in order for the kerosene to be used for jet fuel.The halflife of carbon 14 is 5730 ± 30 years, and the method of dating lies in trying to determine how much carbon 14 (the radioactive isotope of carbon) is present in the artifact and comparing it to levels currently present in the atmosphere.

Above is a graph that illustrates the relationship between how much Carbon 14 is left in a sample and how old it is.

At time is equal to two half-lives, we'd have 25% of our substance, and so on and so forth.

So if I say that three half-lives have gone by-- in the case of carbon that would be, what, roughly 15,000 years-- I can tell you roughly, or almost exactly, what percentage of my original element I still have.

If possible, the ink should be tested, since a recent forgery would use recently-made ink.

Natasha Glydon Exponential decay is a particular form of a very rapid decrease in some quantity.

Carbon is naturally in all living organisms and is replenished in the tissues by eating other organisms or by breathing air that contains carbon.