(April 30, 2019 at 4:43 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote:(April 30, 2019 at 3:31 pm)Jackalope Wrote: Rhonda -
C14 dating isn't used for rocks as it's half life is far too short. Other methods like Argon-Argon are used.
Rifht. It's used for dating the fossils (organic marerial) in rock? The next question is what is meant by decay? I'd think this is different from the physical wear and tear of water on rocks. I think I'll leave t hat question to those who know more than I do.
It refers to the decay of the radioactive elements within the rock. All elements, to a greater or lesser extent, lose mass in the form of (usually) alpha particle and electrons. The rates at which this happen are stable and can be used as a sort of clock to determine how much of the element was originally present in the rock.
It's a tiny, TINY, (but measurable) change in mass.
Boru
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