The most widely known form of radiometric dating is carbon-14 dating. But carbon-14 dating wont work on dinosaur bones. The half-life of carbon-14 is only 5,730 years, so carbon-14 dating is only effective on samples that are less than 50,000 years old.

Why do we not use radiocarbon dating for dinosaur bones?

Carbon dating cannot be used on most fossils, not only because they are almost always too old, but also because they rarely contain the original carbon of the organism. Also, many fossils are contaminated with carbon from the environment during collection or preservation proceedures.

Can bones be dated by radiocarbon?

Our results show that reliable radiocarbon dates can be measured on mid- to well-preserved bones samples, using as little as 3 mg of bone. These results open the way for the routine radiocarbon dating of small bone samples.

Can you carbon date a body?

Measuring carbon-14 levels in human tissue could help forensic scientists determine age and year of death in cases involving unidentified human remains. Archaeologists have long used carbon-14 dating (also known as radiocarbon dating) to estimate the age of certain objects.