Archeologists can determine the age of an artifact made of wood or bone by measuring the amount of the radioactive isotope ¹⁴C present in the object. The amount of this isotope decreases in a first-order process. If 15.5% of the original amount of ¹⁴C is present in a wooden tool at the time of analysis, what is the age of the tool? The half-life of ¹⁴C is 5730 yr.

Respuesta :

Archeologists can determine the age of an artifact made of wood or bone by measuring the amount of the radioactive isotope. The age of the tool is 15, 396.51 years.

What is the half-life?

Half-life is the time of the decay of half of the substance.

After its second half-life will have 50% of the 0.5A So, the mass will be 0.25A. So, the percentage of A, is given by:

A = (0.5)n

Where n is quantitative of half-life. So, for 15.5% of C, or 0.155:

0.155 =  (0.5)n

Applying log on both sides of the equation:

log 0.155 =  log (0.5)n

n log(0.5) = log(0.155)

-0.301n = - 0.809

n = 2.687 half-life

If one half-life is 5,730 yr, than 2.419 will be:

2.687 x 5730 = 15, 396.51 years

Thus, the age of the tool is 15, 396.51 years.

To learn more about the half-life, refer to the link:

https://brainly.com/question/24710827

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