- #1
Lindsayyyy
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Hi
A lance of wood is found wheres one piece contains 2,70 g 12^C. A scintillation counter shows 27,3 radiactive decay per minute.
How old is the lance?
[tex]N(t)= N_0 \cdot e^{-\lambda t}[/tex]
maybe half life of 14^C : 5730 years.
My attempt was using the above equation, I have nothing else given (like mass of a C atom etc). My problem is I think I am missing some information. I tried to get to the solution by using the relative ratio of 12C and 14C but I read that this only counts for living organisms. Is it even possible to solve this without any further information? Sorry for such a short attempt at a solution but I have no idea, wasn't even able to find something which helps me and I really like to understand that problem.
Thanks for your help
Homework Statement
A lance of wood is found wheres one piece contains 2,70 g 12^C. A scintillation counter shows 27,3 radiactive decay per minute.
How old is the lance?
Homework Equations
[tex]N(t)= N_0 \cdot e^{-\lambda t}[/tex]
maybe half life of 14^C : 5730 years.
The Attempt at a Solution
My attempt was using the above equation, I have nothing else given (like mass of a C atom etc). My problem is I think I am missing some information. I tried to get to the solution by using the relative ratio of 12C and 14C but I read that this only counts for living organisms. Is it even possible to solve this without any further information? Sorry for such a short attempt at a solution but I have no idea, wasn't even able to find something which helps me and I really like to understand that problem.
Thanks for your help