Living things absorb carbon-14 (C-14) throughout their lives, and then stop absorbing C-14 when they die. After a living thing dies, the C-14 in it decays into C-12. C-12 is a stable isotope, but C-14 is radioactive, with a half-life of 5730 years. Suppose an archaeologist finds an ancient firepit containing some partially consumed firewood. This wood contains only 2.00 percent of the concentration of C-14 of a carbon sample from a present-day tree. How many years old is this firewood?
Thermochemistry
Thermochemistry can be considered as a branch of thermodynamics that deals with the connections between warmth, work, and various types of energy, formed because of different synthetic and actual cycles. Thermochemistry describes the energy changes that occur as a result of reactions or chemical changes in a substance.
Exergonic Reaction
The term exergonic is derived from the Greek word in which ‘ergon’ means work and exergonic means ‘work outside’. Exergonic reactions releases work energy. Exergonic reactions are different from exothermic reactions, the one that releases only heat energy during the course of the reaction. So, exothermic reaction is one type of exergonic reaction. Exergonic reaction releases work energy in different forms like heat, light or sound. For example, a glow stick releases light making that an exergonic reaction and not an exothermic reaction since no heat is released. Even endothermic reactions at very high temperature are exergonic.
Living things absorb carbon-14 (C-14) throughout their lives, and then stop absorbing C-14 when they die.
After a living thing dies, the C-14 in it decays into C-12. C-12 is a stable isotope, but C-14 is radioactive, with
a half-life of 5730 years. Suppose an archaeologist finds an ancient firepit containing some partially consumed
firewood. This wood contains only 2.00 percent of the concentration of C-14 of a carbon sample from a
present-day tree. How many years old is this firewood?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps with 1 images
