May 08,  · The concept of using radiocarbon dating to determine the age of carbon-containing materials was first proposed in the s. For the case of iron-based materials, van der Merwe and Stuiver 2 first demonstrated that it was feasible to extract the carbon from different iron-based materials and use it to establish their age using radiocarbon dating. Question: "Is carbon dating a reliable method for determining the age of things?". Answer: Carbon dating, or radiocarbon dating, like any other laboratory testing technique, can be extremely reliable, so long as all of the variables involved are controlled and understood. The halflife of carbon 14 is ± 30 years, and the method of dating lies in trying to determine how much carbon 14 (the radioactive isotope of carbon) is present in the artifact and comparing it to levels currently present in the atmosphere.

Determining Age Using Carbon Dating. How Carbon Dating Works | HowStuffWorks

The question outdoors dating resolved by the study of tree rings: Taylor, " 14 C data made a world prehistory possible by contributing a time scale that transcends local, regional and continental boundaries". Other corrections must be made to account determining age using carbon dating the proportion of 14 C in different types of organisms fractionationand the determining age using carbon dating levels of 14 C throughout the biosphere reservoir effects. Another example is driftwood, which may be used as construction material. This result was uncalibrated, as the need for calibration of radiocarbon ages was not yet understood. Views Read Edit View history. For the same reason, 14 C concentrations in the neighbourhood of large cities are lower than the atmospheric average.