While in the upper peninsula, you have found an unusual fossil in a rock layer that you are really interested in. You are able to use radioactive dating to date the layer that the fossil is in. Your sample originally contained 1 gram of radioactive potassium 40, and only 0.25 grams of potassium 40 are left. The half life of potassium 40 is 1.25Gyr. How old is the rock in Gyr, to within 10 percen precision?

Chemistry: Matter and Change
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Author:Dinah Zike, Laurel Dingrando, Nicholas Hainen, Cheryl Wistrom
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Chapter24: Nuclear Chemistry
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While in the upper peninsula, you have found an unusual fossil in a rock layer that you are really
interested in. You are able to use radioactive dating to date the layer that the fossil is in. Your
sample originally contained 1 gram of radioactive potassium 40, and only 0.25 grams of potassium
40 are left. The half life of potassium 40 is 1.25Gyr. How old is the rock in Gyr, to within 10 percent
precision?
Transcribed Image Text:While in the upper peninsula, you have found an unusual fossil in a rock layer that you are really interested in. You are able to use radioactive dating to date the layer that the fossil is in. Your sample originally contained 1 gram of radioactive potassium 40, and only 0.25 grams of potassium 40 are left. The half life of potassium 40 is 1.25Gyr. How old is the rock in Gyr, to within 10 percent precision?
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