e carbon-14 dating. Radioactive carbon is created when nitrogen-14 is bombarded by cosmic rays in the atmosphere (Radio 1). Carbon-14 is taken in by plants and animals and exist in all organic elements. When trying to determine how old an artwork is, scientists must discover how much carbon-14 is left to know its age. This is because Carbon-14 breaks down over a lengthy but steady period of time. Its half-life is known, the rate at which it decays, and is 5730 years (Radio 1). The number of beta radiations per minute per gram of material provides the age of the artwork. Thus, by measuring radiocarbon content in organic materials, an accurate estimation of age is provided through radio-carbon or carbon-14 dating.
With respect to artworks, the nature o
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