INTRODUCTION

1.1 ELEMENTARY IDEA ABOUT RADIOCARBON DATING:

Radiocarbon dating, or carbon dating, is a radioactive dating method that uses the
naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to determine the age of carbonaceous
materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are
usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" (BP).Such raw ages can be
calibrated to give calendar dates. Before Present (BP) years is a time scale used in
archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past
occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use 1950 as the
origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon dating became practicable in
the 1950s.

1.2 HISTORY:

Carbon dating was developed by American scientist Willard Libby and his team at
the University of Chicago in 1949. Libby calculated the half-life of carbon-14 as 5568 ±
30 years, a figure now known as the Libby half-life. In 1962, a more accurate figure of
5730 ± 40 years was agreed upon based on more recent experimental data known as the
Cambridge half-life.

Laboratories today continue to use the Libby figure to avoid inconsistencies with
earlier publications, although the Cambridge half-life is still the most accurate figure that
is widely known and accepted. However, the inaccuracy of the Libby half-life is not
relevant if calibration is applied: the mathematical term representing the half-life is
cancelled out as long as the same value is used throughout a calculation.

1.3 FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS:

Carbon has two stable, nonradioactive isotopes: carbon-12(12C),and

carbon-13 (13C). In addition, there are trace amounts of the unstable isotope carbon-14
(14C) on Earth. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years.Carbon-14 would have long ago

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vanished from Earth were it not for the unremitting cosmic ray impacts on nitrogen in the
Earth's atmosphere, which create more of the isotope. The neutrons resulting from the
cosmic ray interactions participate in the following nuclear reaction on the atoms of
nitrogen molecules (N2) in the atmosphere:

The highest rate of carbon-14 production takes place at altitudes of 9 to 15 km (30,000 to
50,000 ft), and at high geomagnetic latitudes, but the carbon-14 spreads evenly
throughout the atmosphere and reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Carbon
dioxide also permeates the oceans, dissolving in the water. For approximate analysis it is
assumed that the cosmic ray flux is constant over long periods of time; thus carbon-14 is
produced at a constant rate and the proportion of radioactive to non-radioactive carbon is
constant. But further analysis showed that the concentration of carbon-14 in the
atmosphere varies with time and locality. For the most accurate work, these variations are
compensated by means of calibration curves which is a general method for determining
the concentration of a substance in an unknown sample by comparing the unknown to a
set of standard samples of known concentration. Plants take up atmospheric carbon
dioxide by photosynthesis, and are ingested by animals, so every living thing is constantly
exchanging carbon-14 with its environment as long as it lives. Once it dies, however, this
exchange stops, and the amount of carbon-14 gradually decreases through radioactive
beta decay with a half-life of 5,730 ± 40 years.

Fig.1: Carbon dating process.

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 COMPUTATION OF AGES AND DATES

The number of decays per time is proportional to the current number of

radioactive atoms. This is expressed by the following differential equation, where N is the
number of radioactive atoms and λ is a positive number called the decay constant:

(dN/dt)=-λN

As the solution to this equation, the number of radioactive atoms N can be written as a
function of time

- t
N(t)=N0e λ

which describes an exponential decay over a time span t with an initial condition of N0
radioactive atoms at t = 0. Canonically, t is 0 when the decay started. In this case, N 0 is
the initial amount of 14C atoms when the decay started.

For radiocarbon dating a once living organism, the initial ratio of 14C atoms to the
sum of all other carbon atoms at the point of the organism's death and hence the point
when the decay started, is approximately the ratio in the atmosphere.

Two characteristic times can be defined:

 mean- or average-life: mean or average time each radiocarbon atom spends

in a given sample until it decays.
 half-life: time lapsed for half the number of radiocarbon atoms in a given
sample, to decay,

It can be shown that:

tavg= 1/λ= radiocarbon mean- or average-life = 8033 years (Libby value)

t =t . ln 2 radiocarbon half-life = 5568 years (Libby value)
1/2 avg

Notice that dates are customarily given in years BP which implies t(BP) = –t because the
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time arrow for dates runs in reverse direction from the time arrow for the corresponding
ages. From these considerations and the above equation, it results:

For a raw radiocarbon date:

t(BP)=(1/λ)ln(N/N0)

and for a raw radiocarbon age:

t(BP)=(-1/λ).ln(N/N0)

After replacing values, the raw radiocarbon age becomes any of the following equivalent
formulae:

Using logs base e and the average life:

t(BP)=-tavg .ln(N/N0)

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 MEASUREMENTS AND SCALES

Measurements are traditionally made by counting the radioactive decay of

individual carbon atoms by gas proportional counting or by liquid scintillation counting.
For samples of sufficient size this method is still widely used. Among others, all the tree
ring samples used for the calibration curves (see Fig.2) were determined by these
counting techniques. Such decay counting, however, is relatively insensitive and subject
to large statistical uncertainties for small samples.

Fig.2: Calibration curve for the radiocarbon dating scale. Samples with a real date more
recent than AD 1950 are dated and/or tracked using the N- & S-Hemisphere graphs.

The sensitivity of the method has been greatly increased by the use of Accelerator
Mass Spectrometry (AMS). With this technique 14C atoms can be detected and counted
directly vs only detecting those atoms that decay during the time interval allotted for an
analysis. AMS allows dating samples containing only a few milligrams of carbon.
As mentioned earlier raw radiocarbon ages are usually reported in "years Before
Present" (BP). Radiocarbon dating laboratories generally report an uncertainty for each
date. For example, 3000 ± 30 BP indicates a standard deviation of 30 radiocarbon
years .Traditionally this included only the statistical counting uncertainty. However, some
laboratories supplied an "error multiplier" that could be multiplied by the uncertainty to
account for other sources of error in the measuring process.

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 CALIBRATION

4.1 IMPORTANCE OF CALIBRATION:

A raw BP date cannot be used directly as a calendar date, because the level of
14
atmospheric C has not been strictly constant during the span of time that can be
radiocarbon dated. The level is affected by variations in the cosmic ray intensity which is
in turn affected by variations in the Earth's magnetosphere. In addition, there are
substantial reservoirs of carbon in organic matter, the ocean, ocean sediments and
sedimentary rocks. Changes in the Earth's climate can affect the carbon flows between
these reservoirs and the atmosphere, leading to changes in the atmosphere's 14C fraction.

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Fig.3: Atmospheric C, New Zealand and Austria. The New Zealand curve is
representative for the Southern Hemisphere, the Austrian curve is representative for the
Northern Hemisphere. Atmospheric nuclear weapon tests almost doubled the
concentration of 14C in the Northern Hemisphere.

Aside from these changes due to natural processes, the level has also been affected by
human activities. From the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century to
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the 1950s, the fractional level of C decreased because of the admixture of large
quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, due to the excavated oil reserves and combustion
production of fossil fuel. This decline is known as the Suess effect, and also affects the
13
C isotope. However, atmospheric 14C was almost doubled for a short period during the
1950s and 1960s due to atmospheric atomic bomb tests.
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 As a consequence, the radiocarbon method shows limitations on dating of
materials that are younger than the industrial era. Due to these fluctuations, greater
carbon-14 content cannot be taken to mean a lesser age. A calibration curve must
sometimes be combined with contextual analysis, because there is not always a direct
relationship between age and carbon-14 content.

4.2 METHODS OF CALIBRATION:

The raw radiocarbon dates, in BP years, are calibrated to give calendar dates.
Standard calibration curves are available, based on comparison of radiocarbon dates of
samples that can be dated independently by other methods such as examination of tree
growth rings (dendrochronology), deep ocean sediment cores, lake sediment varves, coral
samples, and speleothems (cave deposits).
The calibration curves can vary significantly from a straight line, so comparison
of uncalibrated radiocarbon dates is likely to give misleading results .There are also
significant plateaus in the curves, such as the one from 11,000 to 10,000 radiocarbon
years BP, which is believed to be associated with changing ocean circulation during the
Younger Dryas period. Over the historical period from 0 to 10,000 years BP, the average
width of the uncertainty of calibrated dates was found to be 335 years, although in well-
behaved regions of the calibration curve the width decreased to about 113 years while in
ill-behaved regions it increased to a maximum of 801 years. Significantly, in the ill-
behaved regions of the calibration curve, increasing the precision of the measurements
does not have a significant effect on increasing the accuracy of the dates. Now a days the
calibration curve extends back quite accurately to 50,000 years BP.

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 RADIOCARBON DATING AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Prior to the development of radiocarbon dating, it was difficult to tell when an

archaeological artifact came from. After its development computation of age became
easier for archaeologist After an organism dies, it stops absorbing carbon-14, so the
radioactive isotope starts to decay and is not replenished. Archaeologists can then
measure the amount of carbon-14 compared to the stable isotope carbon-12 and determine
how old an item is.

Fig.4: Archaeologists determining the age of a cave using carbon dating method.

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 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

For the most part, radiocarbon dating has made a huge difference for
archaeologists everywhere, but the process does have a few flaws eg.fluctuation of c-12
and c-14 in atmosphere, age limitations, on applicability to aquatic creatures etc.
Despite such limitations, radiocarbon dating will often get scientist a decent
ballpark figure. While other methods of dating objects exist, radiocarbon dating has
remained vital for most archaeologists. For example, it makes it possible to compare the
ages of objects on a worldwide scale, allowing for indispensible comparisons across the
globe.So it becomes indispensible for every archaeologist.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

1. Jain and Jain, Engineering Chemistry,2006.

2. Sheridan Bowman, Interpreting the Past-Radiocarbon Dating ,1990.

Internet websites:

 http://en.wikipedia.org
 http://www.howstuffworks.com

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