9.30 Carbon Dating

Did you ever wonder how scientists know a fossil is 10,000 years old or a piece of paper is 2,000 years old? They use a method called carbon dating. In this lesson you’ll learn about carbon dating and how it works.

What Is Carbon Dating?

Imagine going for a hike in the mountains and finding a 5,000-year-old body frozen in a block of ice! In 1991, this adventure actually happened to a couple that was walking in the mountains of Europe. While on a hike, a couple from Germany found what is now referred to as the Iceman.

You might be wondering how we know that the Iceman is more than 5,000 years old. The answer is carbon dating. Carbon dating is a way of telling the age of a once living thing by measuring the amount of carbon inside of it.

Carbon dating was such an important discovery that American scientist Willard Libby won the top science award called the Nobel Prize for discovering it.

1. Main points:

A couple from Germany found a 5,000-year-old body, known as the Iceman, while hiking in the mountains of Europe in 1991, and the age of the body was determined through carbon dating, for which scientist Willard Libby won a Nobel Prize.

2. Questions:

• Content Analysis: How was the age of the Iceman determined?
• Contextual Analysis: When and where was the Iceman found?
• Socio-cultural Analysis: What significance does the Nobel Prize hold in recognizing the importance of carbon dating?

3. Further Discussion:

If you were to discover something incredible like the Iceman, what would you want it to be and why?

4. Answers:

• Content Analysis: The age of the Iceman was determined through “carbon dating.”
• Contextual Analysis: The Iceman was found in “1991” by a “couple from Germany walking in the mountains of Europe.”
• Socio-cultural Analysis: The Nobel Prize is described as the “top science award,” highlighting its significance in recognizing important discoveries like carbon dating.

Hey team! 🏞️ Imagine hiking and stumbling upon a 5,000-year-old frozen guy called the Iceman! How rad is that? 😲 So, if you ever find yourself wondering how they even knew he was 5,000 years old, it’s thanks to this thing called carbon dating. Even got a scientist a big-deal award for it! 🏆 So, if you had your own adventurous discovery, what would it be? Maybe a dinosaur fossil or a treasure chest? 🦖💰

What’s So Important about Carbon?

Do you know what you have in common with a tree and a dog? You all have carbon. Carbon is an element that is found in every living thing on planet Earth.

A typical atom of carbon looks like this.
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Carbon exists in different forms. One form of carbon inside living things is called carbon-14. Carbon-14 is a radioactive form of carbon, which sounds scary, but it’s not dangerous, it just means that it’s not stable, so after an organism dies, carbon-14 decays or goes away.

Scientists know how fast carbon-14 decays, so by measuring how much of it is remaining in a dead organism, they can figure out how long it has been dead.

When scientists chipped the Iceman out of the block of ice he was found in, they tested his body to see how many carbon-14 atoms were remaining, which told them his age.

1. Main points:

Carbon is an element present in all living things, and its radioactive form, carbon-14, is used by scientists to determine the age of once-living organisms, like the Iceman.

2. Questions:

• Content Analysis: What is carbon-14 and why is it important?
• Linguistic Analysis: What words are used to describe the nature of carbon-14?
• Thematic Analysis: What is the overall topic or theme of the text?

3. Further Discussion:

Would you be scared or excited if you learned that you contain an element that is also radioactive? Why?

4. Answers:

• Content Analysis: Carbon-14 is a “radioactive form of carbon” that is “not dangerous,” and it is used to figure out “how long an organism has been dead.”
• Linguistic Analysis: Carbon-14 is described as “radioactive,” “not dangerous,” and “not stable.”
• Thematic Analysis: The overall topic is how carbon, specifically carbon-14, is used to date once-living things like the Iceman.

Hey there, explorers! 🌱🐶👦 Guess what you share with a tree and a dog? It’s this cool thing called carbon! And there’s a special kind called carbon-14. Don’t worry, it sounds fancy and even a bit “radioactive,” but it’s totally safe! 😎 Scientists even used it to figure out how old the Iceman is! So, would you feel like a superhero or a bit scared knowing you’ve got a radioactive element in you? 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

Carbon Dating Uses and Problems

Did you know that cloth and paper were once living things? Cloth can be made from the wool of a sheep, or cotton, which is a plant. Paper is made from trees. So when scientists find something wrapped in an old piece of cloth or find an old piece of paper with important writings on it, they can use carbon dating to find out when the items were used.

Carbon dating can also be used to tell the age of fossils, but there’s a problem. Carbon dating only works for fossils that are less than 60,000 years old, so carbon dating won’t work if you find a dinosaur bone because dinosaurs lived on Earth millions of years ago.

1. Main points:

Carbon dating can be used to determine the age of items like cloth and paper, which were once living things, as well as fossils up to 60,000 years old, but it can’t be used for things like dinosaur bones that are millions of years old.

2. Questions:

• Content Analysis: What types of items can carbon dating be used on?
• Socio-cultural Analysis: Why would it be important to date “an old piece of paper with important writings on it”?

3. Further Discussion:

What would you like to know the age of if you could use carbon dating?

4. Answers:

• Content Analysis: Carbon dating can be used on “cloth and paper,” as well as “age of fossils,” that were “once living things.”
• Socio-cultural Analysis: Dating “an old piece of paper with important writings on it” would be crucial because those writings could be “important.”

Hey, curious minds! 🌟 Did you know the T-shirt you’re wearing and your notebook paper were once alive? 😮 Yeah, you heard that right! Scientists can even figure out how old they are using carbon dating. 🕰️ But, wait up! If you stumble upon a dino bone, this dating thingy won’t work. 🦖 So, what’s something you wish you could age-date? Maybe an old letter you found in the attic? 💌

Lesson Summary

Carbon dating is a way of telling the age of a once living thing by measuring the amount of carbon inside of it. Carbon is an element that is found in every living thing on planet Earth. A type of carbon called carbon-14 decays after an organism dies, so by measuring how much of it is remaining in a dead organism, scientists can figure out how old the organism is.