Moderate

The half-life of Carbon-14 is:

Correct answer: D. 5730 years

  • A. 23 years
  • B. 1000 years
  • C. 1200 years
  • D. 5730 years

Explanation

The explanation is given below: The half-life of Carbon-14 (^(14)C) is approximately 5,730 years. This means that it takes about 5,730 years for half of a sample of Carbon-14 to decay into its stable daughter product, which is Nitrogen-14 (^(14)N). Carbon-14 is commonly used in radiocarbon dating to determine the age of ancient organic materials, such as archaeological artifacts and fossils, based on the decay of Carbon-14 in these materials over time.

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About Half-life and Rate of Decay

Half-life is the time required for half the unstable nuclei in a sample to decay, and it remains constant for a particular radioactive nuclide. Questions use the exponential decay law, decay constant, activity, remaining quantity and mean life. Radioactive decay is random for individual nuclei but predictable for large samples.

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