In: Physics
A piece of charcoal has a mass of 25 g and is known to be about 10,000 years old.
(a) What is the expected number of decays per minute from this sample?
(b) Background radiation gives about 20 spurious counts per minute in a typical counter used for carbon dating. If the number of carbon decays per minute is much smaller than this, it is difficult to accurately determine the age of a sample. Estimate the maximum age (in years) of a 25 g sample for which carbon dating could be used.