Answer:
In order to determine or find out about the age of archaeological finds such as fossils, rocks, etc., archaeologists use radioactive isotopes in a process called radioactive dating.
In agriculture, radioactive isotopes have a lot of uses. These comprise of but are not limited to the following:
- Improvement of food crops
- preservation of food,
- Establish and estimate the presence and volume of water in the soil for farms;
- Hormonal analysis for animals (livestock) etc
Explanation:
C-14 and Phosphorus - 32 are examples of Radioactive isotopes. Because they decay over time, they are easy to use when it comes to radioactive dating.
When an isotope carried an unstable amount or number of atoms, neutrons, and protons, they are said to be Radioactive. It also means that they have too unstable or excess energy in their nucleus. This condition causes them to decay faster than their stable relatives.
In archaeology, dating the artifacts that are discovered is important because it helps to establish the correct relationship between one find or artifact and another. Because humans can't go back in time, one of the ways to know what humans did or didn't do, or what events occurred in a place by other living things is the items/evidence they left behind. Categorizing these times/artifacts by date helps to give a clearer picture of what happened in a particular block of time and this is exactly what dating is all about.
In agriculture, one of the radioactive isotopes used is Phosphorus - 32.
When the plant's uptake of fertilizer from the roots to the leaves needs to be established, Phosphorus-32 is utilized. A fertilizer that has already been mixed with the above radioactive isotope is administered to the plant using a hydroponic system or via the traditional means (water in the soil). The phosphorus 32 emits beta radiation which is then tracked and mapped accordingly.
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