Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.

What is the principle behind carbon dating?

Radiocarbon dating works by comparing the three different isotopes of carbon. Isotopes of a particular element have the same number of protons in their nucleus, but different numbers of neutrons. This means that although they are very similar chemically, they have different masses.

What is the basic principle of radiometric dating?

Principles of Radiometric Dating The energies involved are so large, and the nucleus is so small that physical conditions in the Earth (i.e. T and P) cannot affect the rate of decay. The rate of decay or rate of change of the number N of particles is proportional to the number present at any time, i.e.