Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9780134089089
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Seth Shostak
Publisher: PEARSON
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Textbook Question
Chapter 4, Problem 5RQ
Describe the technique of radiometric dating, and explain how we know it is reliable. Be sure to explain what we mean by a radioactive isotope, parent and daughter isotopes, and a half-life.
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Students have asked these similar questions
Define the activity of a radionuclide. Write its S.I. unit. Give a plot of the activity of a radioactive species versus time.
How long will a radioactive isotope, whose half life is T years, take for its activity to reduce to 1/8th of its initial value?
I need to know the number of years! There is only one part to this question. The pictures show the "Figure" and "Bar charts" tabs and the "Graph" tab says this:
A curve showing the percentage of radioactive atoms remaining in a mineral sample is graphed on a coordinate plane.
The horizontal axis, labeled "Age in half-lives," ranges from 0 to 6.
The vertical axis, labeled "Percentage remaining," ranges from 0 to 100.
The curve enters the viewing field with a negative slope at (0, 100). The magnitude of the negative slope is progressively reduced such that it is nearly horizontal as it exits the viewing field at (6, 0.02).
Thank you!!
Carbon-14 is constantly being produced in the upper atmosphere, and the amount is in
equilibrium. As long as an organism is alive, it keeps its carbon isotopes in balance with the
atmosphere, but at soon as it dies, it stops taking up new 14C, and so the geologic clock starts.
You found a shell buried in sedimentary layers, which has 6% of its original 14C left.
Determine the age of the shell. Show your work.
Chapter 4 Solutions
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe three aspects of geology that are...Ch. 4 - What do we mean by the geological record? Why is...Ch. 4 - Describe the three basic types of rock and the...Ch. 4 - How are sedimentary strata made, and how do they...Ch. 4 - Describe the technique of radiometric dating, and...Ch. 4 - How do fossils form? Do most living organisms...Ch. 4 - Summarize the geological time scale. What are...Ch. 4 - Prob. 8RQCh. 4 - Briefly describe how outgassing led to the origin...Ch. 4 - What was the heavy bombardment, and what effect...
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe Earths core-mantle-crust...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the conveyorlike action of plate...Ch. 4 - Describe how plate tectonics shapes important...Ch. 4 - What evidence do we have for the operation of...Ch. 4 - What are the three requirements for a planetary...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the mechanism by which the...Ch. 4 - What has happened to most of the carbon dioxide...Ch. 4 - What are ice ages, and what may cause them? What...Ch. 4 - Briefly summarize the key ways in which geology is...Ch. 4 - How do we think the Moon formed, and what evidence...Ch. 4 - We can expect that if there are paleontologists a...Ch. 4 - Nearly all the rocks I found in the lava fields of...Ch. 4 - Prob. 23TYUCh. 4 - Although Earth contains its densest material in...Ch. 4 - If you had a time machine that dropped you off on...Ch. 4 - If there were no plate tectonics on Earth, our...Ch. 4 - Without the greenhouse effect, there probably...Ch. 4 - If nitrogen were a greenhouse gas, our planet...Ch. 4 - We can learn a lot about Earths early history by...Ch. 4 - Prob. 30TYUCh. 4 - A rocks type (igneous, metamorphic, or...Ch. 4 - To learn a rocks age, we must (a) determine its...Ch. 4 - Radiometric dating now allows us to determine...Ch. 4 - Earths oceans formed (a) during the late stages of...Ch. 4 - We learn about the heavy bombardment by studying...Ch. 4 - Earth has retained a lot of internal heat...Ch. 4 - Plate tectonics is best described as a process...Ch. 4 - Earth has far less atmospheric carbon dioxide than...Ch. 4 - If Earth had more greenhouse gases in its...Ch. 4 - Snowball Earth refers to (a) one of a series of...Ch. 4 - The Age of Earth. Some people still question...Ch. 4 - Dating Planetary Surfaces. We have discussed two...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Differentiation. Suppose Earth had...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Plate Tectonics. Suppose plate...Ch. 4 - Feedback Processes in the Atmosphere. As the Sun...Ch. 4 - Geological Time. Geological time scales are often...Ch. 4 - Dating Lunar Rocks. You are analyzing Moon rocks...Ch. 4 - Carbon-14 Dating. The half-life of carbon-14 is...Ch. 4 - Martian Meteorite. Some unusual meteorites thought...Ch. 4 - Internal vs. External Heating. In daylight, Earths...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics. Typical motions of one plate...Ch. 4 - More Plate Tectonics. Consider a seafloor...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics and Us. Based on what you learned...
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- Upload a PDF document that shows your work and solution. The principle of radiometric dating is summarized with the following formula: N = No (4) where N is the current number of radioactive atoms in a sample, No is the initial number of radioactive atoms in a sample, ty is the length of time of one half-life of the radioactive element (measured in seconds), and t is the amount of time since the sample was formed (measured in seconds). This formula allows for the radiometric dating of rocks and other materials. Consider a rock that contains Uranium-238 that decays into Lead-206 with a half-life of 4.47 billion years. A rock is found that has 94.65% Uranium and 5.35% Lead - so, how old is this rock?arrow_forwardA fossil contains 4.06 grams of carbon 14. Refer to the formulaA(t) = C 0.999879t which gives the original amount of carbon 14 t years ago in terms of the amount C that is left now, and estimate the amount of carbon 14 in the sample 10,000 years, 20,000 years, and 30,000 years ago. (Round your answers to one decimal place.arrow_forward2e descr ons. Th Learning Taak 1: Study the activity. Follow the procedure before answering the questions. n the Find the Epicenter (Adapted and modified from the Learner's Materlal) zon Materials: Hypothetical records of earthquake waves Philippine map Drawing compass and ruler Marking pens (3 different colors) Procedure: Study the data showing the difference in the arrival time of P-wave and S-wave on three seismic recording stations. Distance of epicen- Time difference in tre from the station the arrival time of P- Recording station (km) wave and S-wave 40 Occidental Mindoro 32 Samar 36 Zambonga del Norte 1. Compute the distance of the epicenter from each of the stations using this formula: d = time difference x 100 km 8 seconds where: d distance (km) td = time difference in the arrival time of P-wave and S-wave (seconds) This formula is suited because 8 seconds is the interval between the times of arrival of the P-wave and S-wave at a distance of 100 km. 2. Choose one of the…arrow_forward
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