ASBOG Practice Exam

What type of material can Carbon-14 dating be used to date?

1. Inorganic materials

2. Organic material up to 60,000 years old

3. Metamorphic rocks

4. Volcanic ash

The correct answer is: Organic material up to 60,000 years old

Carbon-14 dating is a radiometric dating method that is used specifically for dating organic materials, such as wood, bones, and shells, that were once part of living organisms. This technique relies on the decay of carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, which is incorporated into the tissues of living organisms during their life. Upon death, the uptake of carbon-14 stops, and the existing isotope begins to decay at a known rate, allowing scientists to estimate the time since the organism's death. This method is effective for dating organic materials within a range of up to approximately 60,000 years. Beyond this timeframe, the amount of carbon-14 remaining becomes too small to measure accurately due to its half-life of about 5,730 years. Therefore, the correct context for using Carbon-14 is specifically associated with organic materials rather than inorganic ones or geological formations like metamorphic rocks and volcanic ash, which do not contain organic carbon and require different dating techniques such as potassium-argon dating or uranium-lead dating.