- #1
chawkdee
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Bones of the wooly mammoth have been found in North America. The youngest of these bones has a 14C activity per gram of carbon that is about 21% of what was present in the live animal. How long ago (in years) did this animal disappear from North America?
I'm struggling with this problem - is it simply a mathematical problem - working out how many half-lives (5730 years) cause 21% to be left?
Or, do i have top work out the Decay constant λ then use ΔN/Δt = -λ N ?
If it is simply a mathematical Can anyone tell me how to do it please.
If I have to find the Decay constant, I'm still stumped on the mathematics involved.
Thanks for any help.
Chawkdee
I'm struggling with this problem - is it simply a mathematical problem - working out how many half-lives (5730 years) cause 21% to be left?
Or, do i have top work out the Decay constant λ then use ΔN/Δt = -λ N ?
If it is simply a mathematical Can anyone tell me how to do it please.
If I have to find the Decay constant, I'm still stumped on the mathematics involved.
Thanks for any help.
Chawkdee