Carbon -14 is a dating method that is applicable to only samples of organic origin which are less than 50,000 years old.
When living things contain carbon- 14. Carbon - 14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon that decays by beta emission. As long as a plant or animal is alive, there is a balance between its intake and output of carbon -14.
However, when the plant or animal dies, this carbon - 14 begins to decay. The half life of carbon - 14 is 5700 years and it can be used to measure the age of materials or organic origin that are less than 50,000 years old.
