Question

Why is the element carbon-14 important for paleontologist?

Answer 1

Carbon-14 is important to paleontologists because it can determine how old a fossil is. 

Answer 2

Answer:

carbon 14 is widely used in paleontology to know the age of objects.

Explanation:

Carbon is a fundamental part of all living beings, this element has two stable isotopes carbon 12 and carbon 13, the first being with an abundance of 98.9% and the other with an abundance of 1.1%, in addition to these there are some radioactive isotopes, that is, they decompose over time. One of the isotopes carbon 14 has a half-life of 5730 years.

 The production of carbon 14 occurs naturally for cosmic radiation with nitrogen from the air, at a constant rate, which is why absorbed by living things with air and integrated into their system, when living beings die they stop absorbing this carbon 14 and the disintegration process begins. Therefore, by analyzing the amount of carbon 14 left in the sample, we can know when it died and infer how much time the sample had.

This procedure is called carbon dating 14, which is widely used in paleontology to know the age of objects.