Physical Universe
15th Edition
ISBN: 9780077510534
Author: KRAUSKOPF
Publisher: Mcgraw-hill Higher Education (us)
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Question
Chapter 16, Problem 23MC
To determine
The limit of radiocarbon dating.
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What describes using organisms that were only alive during a specific time period to estimate the unknown age of items?
a.
Radioactive dating
Selected:b.
Law of superposition
This answer is incorrect.
c.
Relative dating
d.
Index fossils
3. The Duggs find the skeleton of a Zillow beast and wish to carbon date it. If the half life of Carbon-14
is 5700 years, and we measure 60% of the original carbon, how old is the Zillow beast fossil?
SOME ISOTOPES USED FOR RADIOMETRIC DATING
Daughter
Isotope (D)
Half-Lives (T½)
Useful Dating Range
Parent
Isotope (P)
Materials Dated
Newly formed
crystal
Uranium-238
4.5 billion years Zircon
713 million years Zircon
Lead-206
ages > 10 m.y.
100
Uranium-235
Lead-207
ages > 10 m.y.
0000000o
o00000
15.9%
decayed to
daughter
Potassium-40 Argon-40
Biotite, muscovite,
whole volcanic rock
1.3 billion years
ages > 50,000 yr
Shells, limestone,
organic materials
ages 100-60,000 yr
Carbon-14
Nitrogen-14
5730 years
84.1
29.3%
decayed
70.7
Parent
Atoms (P)
000000000e
50%
decayed
RADIOACTIVE
DECAY
50.0
Daughter
Atoms (D)
25.0
75% decayed
87.5%
decayed
12.5
93.8%
decayed
96.9%
decayed
6.2
3.1
14
2
3
4
5
6
Half-Lives (T1) Elapsed
DECAY PARAMETERS FOR ALL RADIOACTIVE DECAY PAIRS
Percent of
Parent
Atoms (P)
Percent of
Daughter
Atoms (D)
Half-Lives
Elapsed
Age
0.000 x T
0.015 x T
0.031 x Ty
0.062 x Ty
0.125 x T
0.250 x T
0.500 x T2
1.000 x Ty2
100.0
0.0
98.9
1.1
1/64
97.9
2.1
1/32
95.8
4.2
1/16
91.7
8.3…
Chapter 16 Solutions
Physical Universe
Ch. 16 - A crack in the earths crust along which movement...Ch. 16 - A long, narrow bay with an irregular outline, such...Ch. 16 - The rugged character of mountain landscapes is...Ch. 16 - The ancient supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana...Ch. 16 - A mountain range that was not once part of the...Ch. 16 - North America, Greenland, and most of Eurasia once...Ch. 16 - The shell of rigid rock that makes up the earths...Ch. 16 - Compared with the earths crust under the oceans,...Ch. 16 - Compared with the continents, the ocean floors are...Ch. 16 - The ocean floor near a midocean ridge a. has the...
Ch. 16 - According to the hypothesis of seafloor spreading,...Ch. 16 - The number of large plates into which the...Ch. 16 - In the course of 100 years, a lithospheric plate...Ch. 16 - A region where an edge of a lithospheric plate...Ch. 16 - Most volcanoes are found a. where continental...Ch. 16 - The Indian subcontinent a. was always part of Asia...Ch. 16 - Iceland was once a. a coral reef b. magma that...Ch. 16 - The San Andreas Fault in California is the result...Ch. 16 - If the processes of plate tectonics were to stop...Ch. 16 - The theory of evolution is supported by which one...Ch. 16 - An uneven surface on which a horizontal upper bed...Ch. 16 - Prob. 22MCCh. 16 - Prob. 23MCCh. 16 - Fossils are least likely to be found in a....Ch. 16 - Conditions for the preservation of fossils are...Ch. 16 - The division of geologic time into eras and...Ch. 16 - The earth was formed a. in 4004 B.C. b. about 2...Ch. 16 - Prob. 28MCCh. 16 - Precambrian rocks are a. never found b. extremely...Ch. 16 - Living things have been present on the earth a....Ch. 16 - The oxygen in the atmosphere a. was present since...Ch. 16 - Ancient geologic processes as revealed in...Ch. 16 - Coal is composed of a. petrified wood b. buried...Ch. 16 - A bed of coal usually implies that the region was...Ch. 16 - Prob. 35MCCh. 16 - Amphibians, fishes, and marine invertebrates were...Ch. 16 - The dinosaurs were which one or more of the...Ch. 16 - Dinosaurs were abundant in the a. Cenozoic b....Ch. 16 - Prob. 39MCCh. 16 - The leading explanation for the disappearance of...Ch. 16 - The ancestors of the birds were a. reptiles b....Ch. 16 - During the Cenozoic Era a. Laurasia and Gondwana...Ch. 16 - Pangaea broke up into Laurasia and Gondwana, which...Ch. 16 - The line of descent of humans broke away from that...Ch. 16 - The Cenozoic Era represents a period a. of almost...Ch. 16 - During the most recent ice age a. there was a...Ch. 16 - What landscape features are associated with...Ch. 16 - List all the evidence you can for each of the...Ch. 16 - What geologic process is chiefly responsible for...Ch. 16 - Deposits of igneous rocks are found intruded in...Ch. 16 - Why is it believed that the region where the Rocky...Ch. 16 - What kind of biological evidence supports the...Ch. 16 - The eastern coast of South America is a good fit...Ch. 16 - (a) Where was the Tethys Sea located? (b) Are...Ch. 16 - Which of todays continents were once part of...Ch. 16 - Which is denser, the granitic rock of the...Ch. 16 - (a) What is the difference between the earths...Ch. 16 - North America, Greenland, and Eurasia fit quite...Ch. 16 - How do the ages of the ocean floors compare with...Ch. 16 - When continental drift was proposed almost a...Ch. 16 - The energy source of erosional processes is the...Ch. 16 - Where do subduction zones occur? What happens at...Ch. 16 - The Himalayas are the highest mountain range on...Ch. 16 - How does the origin of the Himalayas differ from...Ch. 16 - Which are younger, the Rocky Mountains or the...Ch. 16 - Is the Atlantic Ocean becoming narrower or wider?...Ch. 16 - Prob. 21ECh. 16 - In what geological zones are most volcanoes found?Ch. 16 - Which plate collisions are responsible for...Ch. 16 - The distance between the continental shelves of...Ch. 16 - The oldest sediments found on the floor of the...Ch. 16 - In Fig. 16-47, beds A to F consist of sedimentary...Ch. 16 - (a) What is an unconformity? (b) If one is shown...Ch. 16 - What is a fault? If one is shown in Fig. 16-47,...Ch. 16 - What is the basis of the radiocarbon dating...Ch. 16 - The half-life of rubidium-87 is 47 billion years,...Ch. 16 - The half-life of potassium-40 is 1.3 billion...Ch. 16 - Why are fossils still useful in dating rock...Ch. 16 - List as many different kinds of fossils as you...Ch. 16 - Why are most fossils found in beds that were once...Ch. 16 - What is the basis for the division of geologic...Ch. 16 - What is the basis for the division of geologic...Ch. 16 - What is the oldest division of geologic time? In...Ch. 16 - During what divisions of geologic time have living...Ch. 16 - The earths history is sometimes divided into two...Ch. 16 - The early atmosphere of the earth probably...Ch. 16 - Precambrian rocks include sedimentary, igneous,...Ch. 16 - Precambrian rocks are exposed over a large part of...Ch. 16 - What conspicuous difference is there between...Ch. 16 - What are the chief kinds of organisms that have...Ch. 16 - Paleozoic sedimentary rocks derived from marine...Ch. 16 - Which of the following are found in Paleozoic rock...Ch. 16 - Why is it believed that large parts of the United...Ch. 16 - Under what circumstances is coal formed?Ch. 16 - What is believed to be the origin of petroleum? Of...Ch. 16 - What are some of the chief differences between...Ch. 16 - What kind of animals were the dinosaurs? Were they...Ch. 16 - What is believed to be the reason or reasons for...Ch. 16 - From what type of animal did birds evolve? Are...Ch. 16 - About 200 million years ago todays continents were...Ch. 16 - The same reptiles were present on all continents...Ch. 16 - In rocks of what era or eras would you expect to...Ch. 16 - What were the ice ages? When did they occur?Ch. 16 - The Scandinavian landmass of Norway and Sweden has...Ch. 16 - Minnesota has a great many shallow lakes. How do...
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- A fossilized leaf contains 70% Of its normal amount of carbon- 14. How old is the fossil? Use 5730 yesrs as the half-life of carbon- 14.arrow_forwardSource A has a half-life of 10 million years, and source B has a half-life of 5 million years. After 10 million years, what percent of each source remains? A. 50% of source A and 25% of source B B. 50% of source A and 0% of source B C. 25% of source A and 25% of source B D. 25% of source A and 0% of source Barrow_forwardUsing AMS radiocarbon dating, archaeologists working in Northern Spain dated a piece of iron at approximately 17000 years BP. Question 12 options: A) True B) Falsearrow_forward
- Carbon-14 dating measures the ratio of carbon-14 not to its daughter, nitrogen-14, but instead to what isotope?arrow_forwardKEY TERMS 1. geologic time (Intro) 2. fossil (24.1) 3. paleontology 4. amber 5. replacement fossil 6. mold 7. cast 8. trace fossil 9. relative geologic time (24.2) 10. principle of original horizontality 11. principle of superposition 12. principle of cross-cutting relationships 13. unconformities 14. correlation 15. index fossils 16. eons 17. eras 18. periods 19. absolute (numerical) geologic time (24.3) 20. radiometric dating 21. carbon-14 dating 22. geologic time scale (24.5) 23. Cambrian explosion 24. Great Dying 25. epochs 26. K-T event For each of the following items, fill in the number of the appropriate Key Term from the preceding list. b. _____ The most devastating extinction that has ever occurredarrow_forwardKEY TERMS 1. geologic time (Intro) 2. fossil (24.1) 3. paleontology 4. amber 5. replacement fossil 6. mold 7. cast 8. trace fossil 9. relative geologic time (24.2) 10. principle of original horizontality 11. principle of superposition 12. principle of cross-cutting relationships 13. unconformities 14. correlation 15. index fossils 16. eons 17. eras 18. periods 19. absolute (numerical) geologic time (24.3) 20. radiometric dating 21. carbon-14 dating 22. geologic time scale (24.5) 23. Cambrian explosion 24. Great Dying 25. epochs 26. K-T event For each of the following items, fill in the number of the appropriate Key Term from the preceding list. a. _____ Widespread, easily identified fossils that are typical of a particular time segment of the Earths historyarrow_forward
- From Hawaii to the bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor chain is about 4000 km. Use the speed of Pacific plate motion given in Problem 7 to estimate how long ago the direction of plate motion changed. (Note: It may not be a coincidence that the San Andreas fault became active in what is now Southern California at about the same time.) 7. The Hawaiian-Emperor chain of undersea volcanoes is about 7500 km long, and the Pacific plate is moving 9.2 cm a year. How old is the oldest detectable volcano in the chain? What has happened to older volcanoes in the chain?arrow_forward5. A fossil contains 50% of the carbon-14 it once had as a living creature. Use the half-life decay equation to determine when the creature died. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years.arrow_forwardYou want to use radiometric dating to determine the age of a specimen. You use Isotope Z, which has a half-life of 645 years. You measure your sample and find that 1/16 of the original amount of Isotope Z is present. How old is the sample?arrow_forward
- 8. The half-life of certain type of carbon used for carbon-dating is 5730 years. Determine the age of a bone if it now contains 38 percent of the original amount of carbon. A = 4,(0.5)*arrow_forwardWhat is carbon-14 dating?arrow_forwardApproximately how old is a fossil that contains 1.5g of C14 and 198.5g of C12? Remember that C14 decays to C12 with a half life of 6,000 years.arrow_forward
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