# Example concept half life used radiometric dating

A useful concept is half-life (symbol is $$t_{1/2}$$), which is the time required for half of Image used with permission (CC-BY ; OpenStax). For example, if there were $$\: \text{g}$$ of $$\ce{Cf}$$ in a Understand how decay and half life work to enable radiometric dating. Radiometric dating half life chart - If you are a middle-aged woman looking to have a good time How is half life used in radiometric dating This example, you will be useful for half of other fields that are useful concept of the half-life of. Radiometric dating is used to estimate the age of rocks and other I have used these to help me understand theories and concepts for my . Learn about half- life and how it is used in different dating methods, For example, uranium-lead dating can be used to find the age of a uranium-containing mineral.

The above equation makes use of information on the composition of parent and daughter isotopes at the time the material being tested cooled below its closure temperature. This is well-established for most isotopic systems. Plotting an isochron is used to solve the age equation graphically and calculate the age of the sample and the original composition.

### Example of how the concept of half-life is used in radiometric dating - InternshipsAnywhere

Modern dating methods[ edit ] Radiometric dating has been carried out since when it was invented by Ernest Rutherford as a method by which one might determine the age of the Earth. In the century since then the techniques have been greatly improved and expanded.

The mass spectrometer was invented in the s and began to be used in radiometric dating in the s. It operates by generating a beam of ionized atoms from the sample under test.

The ions then travel through a magnetic field, which diverts them into different sampling sensors, known as " Faraday cups ", depending on their mass and level of ionization. On impact in the cups, the ions set up a very weak current that can be measured to determine the rate of impacts and the relative concentrations of different atoms in the beams.

Uranium—lead dating method[ edit ] Main article: Uranium—lead dating A concordia diagram as used in uranium—lead datingwith data from the Pfunze BeltZimbabwe. This scheme has been refined to the point that the error margin in dates of rocks can be as low as less than two million years in two-and-a-half billion years.

Zircon has a very high closure temperature, is resistant to mechanical weathering and is very chemically inert. Zircon also forms multiple crystal layers during metamorphic events, which each may record an isotopic age of the event. This can be seen in the concordia diagram, where the samples plot along an errorchron straight line which intersects the concordia curve at the age of the sample.

Samarium—neodymium dating method[ edit ] Main article: Samarium—neodymium dating This involves the alpha decay of Sm to Nd with a half-life of 1. Accuracy levels of within twenty million years in ages of two-and-a-half billion years are achievable. Potassium—argon dating This involves electron capture or positron decay of potassium to argon Potassium has a half-life of 1.

Rubidium—strontium dating method[ edit ] Main article: Rubidium—strontium dating This is based on the beta decay of rubidium to strontiumwith a half-life of 50 billion years. This scheme is used to date old igneous and metamorphic rocksand has also been used to date lunar samples.

Closure temperatures are so high that they are not a concern. Rubidium-strontium dating is not as precise as the uranium-lead method, with errors of 30 to 50 million years for a 3-billion-year-old sample. Uranium—thorium dating method[ edit ] Main article: Uranium—thorium dating A relatively short-range dating technique is based on the decay of uranium into thorium, a substance with a half-life of about 80, years. It is accompanied by a sister process, in which uranium decays into protactinium, which has a half-life of 32, years.

## 5.7: Calculating Half-Life

While uranium is water-soluble, thorium and protactinium are not, and so they are selectively precipitated into ocean-floor sedimentsfrom which their ratios are measured.

The scheme has a range of several hundred thousand years. A related method is ionium—thorium datingwhich measures the ratio of ionium thorium to thorium in ocean sediment. Radiocarbon dating method[ edit ] Main article: Carbon is a radioactive isotope of carbon, with a half-life of 5, years, [25] [26] which is very short compared with the above isotopes and decays into nitrogen.

Carbon, though, is continuously created through collisions of neutrons generated by cosmic rays with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere and thus remains at a near-constant level on Earth. The carbon ends up as a trace component in atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2.

A carbon-based life form acquires carbon during its lifetime. Plants acquire it through photosynthesisand animals acquire it from consumption of plants and other animals. When an organism dies, it ceases to take in new carbon, and the existing isotope decays with a characteristic half-life years.

The proportion of carbon left when the remains of the organism are examined provides an indication of the time elapsed since its death. This makes carbon an ideal dating method to date the age of bones or the remains of an organism.

The carbon dating limit lies around 58, to 62, years. However, local eruptions of volcanoes or other events that give off large amounts of carbon dioxide can reduce local concentrations of carbon and give inaccurate dates. The releases of carbon dioxide into the biosphere as a consequence of industrialization have also depressed the proportion of carbon by a few percent; conversely, the amount of carbon was increased by above-ground nuclear bomb tests that were conducted into the early s.

Also, an increase in the solar wind or the Earth's magnetic field above the current value would depress the amount of carbon created in the atmosphere. Fission track dating method[ edit ] Main article: This involves inspection of a polished slice of a material to determine the density of "track" markings left in it by the spontaneous fission of uranium impurities. The uranium content of the sample has to be known, but that can be determined by placing a plastic film over the polished slice of the material, and bombarding it with slow neutrons.

This causes induced fission of U, as opposed to the spontaneous fission of U. The fission tracks produced by this process are recorded in the plastic film.

The uranium content of the material can then be calculated from the number of tracks and the neutron flux. This scheme has application over a wide range of geologic dates.

For dates up to a few million years micastektites glass fragments from volcanic eruptionsand meteorites are best used. Older materials can be dated using zirconapatitetitaniteepidote and garnet which have a variable amount of uranium content. The technique has potential applications for detailing the thermal history of a deposit. Samples tested during and after this period must be checked against another method of dating isotopic or tree rings.

To calculate the age of a substance using isotopic dating, use the equation below: Ra has a half-life of years. Radioactive Dating Using Nuclides Other than Carbon Radioactive dating can also use other radioactive nuclides with longer half-lives to date older events.

For example, uranium which decays in a series of steps into lead can be used for establishing the age of rocks and the approximate age of the oldest rocks on earth. Since U has a half-life of 4. In a sample of rock that does not contain appreciable amounts of Pb, the most abundant isotope of lead, we can assume that lead was not present when the rock was formed. Therefore, by measuring and analyzing the ratio of U Pb, we can determine the age of the rock. This assumes that all of the lead present came from the decay of uranium If there is additional lead present, which is indicated by the presence of other lead isotopes in the sample, it is necessary to make an adjustment.

Potassium-argon dating uses a similar method. K decays by positron emission and electron capture to form Ar with a half-life of 1. If a rock sample is crushed and the amount of Ar gas that escapes is measured, determination of the Ar K ratio yields the age of the rock.

Other methods, such as rubidium-strontium dating Rb decays into Sr with a half-life of As ofthe oldest known rocks on earth are the Jack Hills zircons from Australia, found by uranium-lead dating to be almost 4. An ingenious application of half-life studies established a new science of determining ages of materials by half-life calculations.

After one half-life, a 1. Present day estimates for the age of the Earth's crust from this method is at 4 billion years. Isotopes with shorter half-lives are used to date more recent samples. Chemists and geologists use tritium dating to determine the age of water ocean and fresh. In addition, tritium dating can be useful in determining the age of wines and brandies. Summary and Vocabulary The half-life of an isotope is used to describe the rate at which the isotope will decay and give off radiation.

Using the half-life, it is possible to predict the amount of radioactive material that will remain after a given amount of time. Its half-life is approximately years.

Radiation that comes from environment sources including the earth's crust, the atmosphere, cosmic rays, and radioisotopes. These natural sources of radiation account for the largest amount of radiation received by most people.