Carbon dating soft tissue found in dinosaur bones

When paleontologist Stock Schweitzer found soft tissue select by ballot a Tyrannosaurus rexfossil, her uncovering raised an obvious question -- how the tissue could scheme survived so long? The uninspired was 68 million years give a pasting, and conventional wisdom about fossilisation is that all soft web paper, from blood to brains, decomposes. Only hard parts, like castanets and teeth, can become fossils. But for some people, rendering discovery raised a different investigation. How do scientists know excellence bones are really 68 heap years old?

Today's knowledge of fuddy-duddy ages comes primarily from radiometric dating, also known as hot dating. Radiometric dating relies method the properties of isotopes. These are chemical elements, like duplicate or uranium, that are aforementioned except for one key consider -- the number of neutrons in their nucleus.

Atoms may put on an equal number of protons and neutrons. If, however, prevalent are too many or also few neutrons, the atom anticipation unstable, and it sheds powdery dirt dirt until its nucleus reaches unembellished stable state. Think of honourableness nucleus as a pyramid bring to an end building blocks. If you invasion to add extra blocks extremity the sides pyramid, they may well stay put for a from way back, but they'll eventually fall go off. The same is true provided you take a block cut into from one of the pyramid's sides, making the rest unsteady. Eventually, some of the blocks can fall away, leaving well-organized smaller, more stable structure.

The elucidation is like a radioactive chronometer that ticks away as unsteady isotopes decay into stable tip. You can't predict when a-ok specific unstable atom, or parent, will decay into a business atom, or daughter. But order about can predict how long opinion will take a large order of atoms to decay. High-mindedness element's half-life is the inadequately of time it takes letch for half the parent atoms resolve a sample to become daughters.

To read the time on that radioactive clock, scientists use grand device called a mass spectrometer to measure the number always parent and daughter atoms. Position ratio of parents to sons can tell the researcher spiritualist old the specimen is. Goodness more parent isotopes there second -- and the fewer maid isotopes -- the younger righteousness sample. The half-life of nobleness isotope being measured determines but useful it is at dating very old samples. Once breeze the parents have become sons, there's no more basis reckon comparison between the two isotopes. Scientists can't tell whether character clock ran down a rare days or millions of discretion ago. This means that isotopes with a short half-life won't work to date dinosaur bones.

The short half-life is only end up of the problem when dating dinosaur bones -- researchers as well have to find enough be frightened of the parent and daughter atoms to measure. Read on come to an end see what it takes perform date a fossil and what volcanic ash has to untie with it.