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What is the age limit for using radioactive carbon dating?

Answer 1

about 57,000 years

Carbon 14 has a half-life of roughly 5,700 years.

Divide # 57000/5700 = 10 #

57000 years is then 10 half lives. This means that what is left is # 1/2^10 = 1/1024 #

This would indicate that less than 1% of the initial radioactive Carbon 14 has remained.1 % of radioactivity would be less than the accuracy of the instruments used to measure radioactivity.

Other than recent fossils, carbon 14 cannot be used to date fossils.

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Answer 2

Daniel Allen

The age limit for using radioactive carbon dating is typically around 50,000 to 60,000 years. Beyond this range, the amount of remaining radioactive carbon in a sample becomes too small to accurately measure.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.