Carbon-14 dating, also called radiocarbon dating, method of age determination that depends upon the decay to nitrogen of radiocarbon (carbon-14). Because carbon-14 decays at this constant rate, an estimate of the date at which an organism died can be made by measuring the amount of its residual radiocarbon.

What is the history of carbon-14?

Detecting radiocarbon in nature Carbon-14 was first discovered in 1940 by Martin Kamen (1913–2002) and Samuel Ruben (1913–1943), who created it artificially using a cyclotron accelerator at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley.

What materials can be dated by C 14?

C-14 dating is only applicable to organic and some inorganic materials (not applicable to metals). Gas proportional counting, liquid scintillation counting and accelerator mass spectrometry are the three principal radiocarbon dating methods.

Is used to tell the age of organic materials?

Background: Radiocarbon dating of materials is a radiometric dating technique that uses the decay of carbon-14 (14C) to estimate the age of organic materials, such as paper and parchment.