Carbon 14 can also be used as a radioactive marker.Radiocarbon or Carbon-14 dating is a technique used by scientist to date bones, wood, paper and cloth. It is produced in the Earth’s upper atmosphere when Nitrogen-14 is broken down to form the unstable Carbon-14 by the action of cosmic rays.Play a game that tests your ability to match the percentage of the dating element that remains to the age of the object.

Once an organism dies it stops taking in Carbon in any form.

The unstable Carbon-14 within the organism begins to decay to form Nitrogen-14 by emitting a beta particle.

If you could watch a single atom of a radioactive isotope, U-238, for example, you wouldn’t be able to predict when that particular atom might decay.

It might take a millisecond, or it might take a century. But if you have a large enough sample, a pattern begins to emerge.

Learn about different types of radiometric dating, such as carbon dating.