Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon (14
C), a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was developed by Willard Libby in the late 1940s and soon became a standard tool for archaeologists. Libby received the Nobel Prize for his work in 1960. The radiocarbon dating method is based on the fact that radiocarbon is constantly being created in the atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen. The resulting radiocarbon combines with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, which is incorporated into plants by photosynthesis; animals then acquire 14
C by eating the plants. When the animal or plant dies, it stops exchanging carbon with its environment, and from that point onwards the amount of 14
C it contains begins to decrease as the 14
C undergoes radioactive decay. Measuring the amount of 14
C in a sample from a dead plant or animal such as piece of wood or a fragment of bone provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died. The older a sample is, the less 14
C there is to be detected, and because the half-life of 14
C (the period of time after which half of a given sample will have decayed) is about 5,730 years, the oldest dates that can be reliably measured by radiocarbon dating are around 50,000 years ago, although special preparation methods occasionally permit dating of older samples.
On the corner, in the street
Terrace blocks, like a tardis
If I could make a gift for you
round black plastic, etched with truth
Don't want to lose the hope youth brings
It's got the power of an empty glass
Tears that fall on dirty clothes
Letter signed with an autograph
Come on, look at you
Can you hear the papers hum?
Turned hype into violence
How does it feel to be "in it?"
Where's my generation?
I lie every second day just to feel safe
How can the act be perfect when you control it?
Come on, look at you
I'd carbon date it just to make sure
Because you patented what I stood for
In panic I switched my head and heart around
Sticking with hope that's worth as much as a credit
card or a hand me down
On the corner, in the street
Terrace blocks, like a tardis
If I could make a gift for you
round black plastic, etched with truth
Don't want to lose the hope youth brings
It's got the power of an empty glass
Tears that fall on dirty clothes
Letter signed with an autograph
Come on, look at you
I'd carbon date it just to make sure
Because you patented what I stood for
In panic I switched my head and heart around
Sticking with hope that's worth as much as a credit
card or a hand me down
I'd carbon date it just to make sure
Because you patented what I stood for
In panic I switched my head and heart around
Sticking with hope that's worth as much as a credit