Question

Age of fossils can be detected by

• A. Residual quantity of calcium
• B. Quantity of radioactive carbon compound
• C. Phylum of other mammals
• D. Structure of bones

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Quantity of radioactive carbon compound

The dead and decomposing matter in the soil gets suppressed in the lower strata of the soil which turn into fossils due to pressure and temperature in the lower strata of the earth crust. Age of fossils can be detected by the quantity of radioactive carbon compound. Radiocarbon dating is used for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon (14C), a radioactive isotope of carbon.

The radiocarbon dating method is based on the fact that radiocarbon is constantly being created in the atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen. The resulting radiocarbon combines with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, which is incorporated into plants by photosynthesis; animals then acquire 14C by eating the plants. When the animal or plant dies, it stops exchanging carbon with its environment, and from that point onwards the amount of 14C it contains begins to reduce as the 14C undergoes radioactive decay. Measuring the amount of 14C in a sample from a dead plant or animal such as piece of wood or a fragment of bone provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died. The older a sample is, the less 14C there is to be detected, and because the half-life of 14C (the period of time after which half of a given sample will have decayed) is about 5,730 years, the oldest dates that can be reliably measured by radiocarbon dating are around 50,000 years ago, although special preparation methods occasionally permit dating of older samples.

So, the correct answer is option B.