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.
Can dinosaur fossils be dated?
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.
Why is carbon dating not useful for dinosaurs?
Carbon dating cannot be used on most fossils, not only because they are almost always too old, but also because they rarely contain the original carbon of the organism. Also, many fossils are contaminated with carbon from the environment during collection or preservation proceedures.
Can fossils be dated with carbon-14?
The carbon-14 method was developed by the American physicist Willard F. Libby about 1946. It has proved to be a versatile technique of dating fossils and archaeological specimens from 500 to 50,000 years old.
Do dinosaur bones have carbon-14?
The preferred method of dating dinosaur fossils is with the radiometric dating method. If dinosaur bones are 65 million years old, there should not be one atom of C-14 left in them. Dinosaurs are not dated with Carbon-14, yet some researchers have claimed that there is still Carbon-14 in the bones.
Are dinosaurs still alive today?
Other than birds, however, there is no scientific evidence that any dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, or Triceratops, are still alive. These, and all other non-avian dinosaurs became extinct at least 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
Is carbon 14 in our bodies?
Radon (and its decay products) is not a significant source of radiation from humans because it is present at very low levels in the body. Carbon-14 content of the body is based on the fact that one 14C atom exists in nature for every 1,000,000,000,000 12C atoms in living material.