Conclusions. Mesozoic dinosaur bones are millions of years old, as demonstrated by radiometric dating with radioisotopes other than 14C. Radiocarbon in Mesozoic dinosaur bones is new, not original to the bone. Its addition to the bones yields the false appearance of a young age.

Can carbon dating be used to date dinosaur fossils?

The most widely known form of radiometric dating is carbon-14 dating. But carbon-14 dating wont work on dinosaur bones. The half-life of carbon-14 is only 5,730 years, so carbon-14 dating is only effective on samples that are less than 50,000 years old.

How do you date dinosaur fossils?

Fossils themselves, and the sedimentary rocks they are found in, are very difficult to date directly. Instead, other methods are used to work out a fossils age. These include radiometric dating of volcanic layers above or below the fossils or by comparisons to similar rocks and fossils of known ages.

How is carbon dating used to date fossils?

The Carbon 14, or radiocarbon dating method is one of the best-known methods of dating human fossils, and has been around since the late 1940s. The Carbon 14 (C-14) dating method is a radiometric dating method. A radiometric dating uses the known rate of decay of radioactive isotopes to date an object.