Relative dating places events or rocks in their chronologic sequence or order of occurrence. Absolute dating places events or rocks at a specific time. If a geologist claims to be younger than his or her co-worker, that is a relative age. If a geologist claims to be 45 years old, that is an absolute age.

What is the description of relative dating?

Relative dating is used to arrange geological events, and the rocks they leave behind, in a sequence. The method of reading the order is called stratigraphy (layers of rock are called strata). Relative dating does not provide actual numerical dates for the rocks.

What was the purpose of the relative and absolute dating lab?

With knowledge of the decay rate, ratios of parent and daughter isotopes then can be used to derive an absolute date, in years, for the age of a given mineral sample. The purpose of this lab is to introduce the principles and concepts associated with both relative and absolute dating.