The Radioactivity Due to Carbon-14 Measured in a Piece of a Wooden

question 56

Multiple Choice

The radioactivity due to carbon-14 measured in a piece of a wooden casket from an ancient burial site was found to produce 20 counts per minute from a given sample, whereas the same amount of carbon from a piece of living wood produced 160 counts per minute. The half-life of carbon-14, a beta emitter, is 5730 years. Thus we would estimate the age of the artifact to be about

• A)5,700 years.
• B)11,500 years.
• C)14,800 years.
• D)17,200 years.
• E)23,000 years.

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