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| Any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years. |
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| Atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but have different number of neutrons are called isotopes. |
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| The process in which a radioactive isotope tends to break down into stable isotopes of the same or other elements. |
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| A method of determining the age of an object by estimating the relative percentages of a radioactive (parent) isotope and a stable (daughter) isotope. |
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| The time needed for half of a sample of a radioactive substance to undergo radioactive decay. |
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| Types of Radiometric Dating |
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Definition
Potassium-Argon
Uranium-Lead
Rubidium=Strontium
Carbon 14 |
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Definition
Used mainly to date rock >100,000 years
Potassium-40 is an isotope that is used for Radiometric Dating. The half life is 1.3 billion years. It decays to argon and calcium. Geologists measure argon as the daughter material. |
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used for dating rocks >10 million years.
Uraniums-238 decays to lead-206. The half life is 4.5 billion years. |
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| Rubidium-Strontium Method |
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Definition
used to date rocks >10 million years
Rubidium-87 forms the stable daughter isotope strontium-87. the half life of Rubidium-87 is 49 million years. |
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used for dating things that lived within the last 50,000 years.
The ratio of Carbon-14 to Carbon 12 decreases as plants or animals decay. The half life of carbon 14 is 5,730 years. |
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