# 14 carbon dating

Before Radiocarbon dating was able to be discovered, someone had to find the existence of the C isotope.

In 1940 Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben at the University of California, Berkeley Radiation Laboratory did just that.

The equation relating rate constant to half-life for first order kinetics is $k = \dfrac \label$ so the rate constant is then $k = \dfrac = 1.21 \times 10^ \text^ \label$ and Equation $$\ref$$ can be rewritten as $N_t= N_o e^ \label$ or $t = \left(\dfrac \right) t_ = 8267 \ln \dfrac = 19035 \log_ \dfrac \;\;\; (\text) \label$ The sample is assumed to have originally had the same (rate of decay) of d/min.g (where d = disintegration).From that point on, scientist have used these techniques to examine fossils, rocks, and ocean currents and determine age and event timing.Throughout the years measurement tools have become more technologically advanced allowing researchers to be more precise and we now use what is known as the Cambridge half-life of 5730 /- 40 years for Carbon-14.They found a form, isotope, of Carbon that contained 8 neutrons and 6 protons.Using this finding Willard Libby and his team at the University of Chicago proposed that Carbon-14 was unstable and underwent a total of 14 disintegrations per minute per gram.