Question

By measuring the amounts of parent isotopes and daughter product in the minerals contained in a rock, and by knowing the half-life of the parent isotope, a geologist can calculate the absolute age of the rock. A rock contains 125 g of radioisotope with a half life of 150000 and 875 g of its daughter product. How old is he rock according to the radiometric dating method?

Answer 1

The asker of the second question needs a tutorial in radiometric dating. There is little likelihood that the daughter isotope has the same atomic weight as the parent isotope. To measure the mass isotopes doesn't tell us how many atoms of each exist. To get around that let's pretend — which will likely serve the purpose ineptly intended — that the values give an the particle ratio, 125:875. 

The original parent isotope count was 125 + 875 = 1000. The remaining parent isotope is 125/1000 or 1/8. 1/8 = (1/2)^h, where h is the number of half-lives. 

h = log (1/8) ÷ log(1/2) = 3 

And 3 half-lives • 150,000 years/half-life = 450,000 years.