Lesson

10.2
ABSOLUTE Jorilyn Llanda
Rosebe Torreblanca

DATING Danna Virgie Vacnot

WHAT IS ABSOLUTE
DATING?
FIRST UP 2
CONSULTANTS
 ABSOLUTE DATING

• Absolute dating is a method of

measuring the age of an event or object
in years.
• To determine the absolute ages of fossils
and rocks, scientists analyze isotopes of
radioactive elements.

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 ABSOLUTE DATING

• Isotopes are atoms of the same element

that have the same number of protons but
different numbers of neutrons.
• Most isotopes are stable will stay in their
original form.
• However, there unstable isotopes that
decay into other forms in order to
achieve stability. 4
 ABSOLUTE DATING

• Scientists call them radioactive isotopes.

• These isotopes tend to break down into
stable isotopes of the same or other
elements at a steady rate.

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Fig. 10-6. When radioactive isotopes break down into
stable ones, heat energy is released.
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 ABSOLUTE DATING

In radioactive decay, an unstable

radioactive isotope of one element breaks
down into a stable isotope. The unstable
radioactive isotope is called parent
isotope while the stable isotope produced
by the radioactive decay of the parent
isotope is called daughter isotope.
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 ABSOLUTE DATING

• Half-life is the time needed for half of a

sample of a radioactive substance to
undergo radioactive decay.
• After every half-life, the amount of
parent material decreases by one-self.

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 ABSOLUTE DATING

Fig. 10-7. A sample isotope with a half-life of

10000 years. 9
 ABSOLUTE DATING

• The example on figure 10-7 shows that at

time 0, all atoms are parent isotope (16
parent) or some known ratio of parent top
daughter.
• After the first half-life has elapsed in 10000
years, half of the material has changed from
parent to daughter isotope (8 parent; 8
daughter).
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 ABSOLUTE DATING
• After another 10 000 years, two half-
lives have elapsed, and the ratio is now 4
parent and 12 daughter isotopes.
• After the fourth half-life which is 40 000
years, only one parent isotope remain.

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TABLE 10-2
Half-life of Common Isotopes
Parent Isotope Half-Life Stable Daughter
Uranium-235 704 million years Lead-207
Potassium-40 1.25 billion years Argon-40
Uranium-238 4.5 billion years Lead-206
Thorium-232 14.0 billion years Lead-208
Lutetium-176 35.9 billion years Hafnium-176
Rubidium-87 48.8 billion years Strontium-87
Samarium-147 106 billion years Neodymium-143
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 ABSOLUTE DATING

• Table 10-2 shows the half-life of radioactive

isotopes and their stable daughter isotopes.
• Age measurement can only be done if the
expected age is within the range of the
isotopes half-life.

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 ABSOLUTE DATING

• Because the radioactive decay or half-

life occurs at a steady rare, scientists use
and compare the relative amount of
parent isotope with the amount of
daughter material to date an object.
• Hence, the more daughter material there
is the older the rock is. This technique is
called radiometric-dating.
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 RADIOMETRIC-
DATING METHODS
FIRST UP 15
CONSULTANTS
1. POTASSIUM-ARGON METHOD

Uses potassium-40, which has

a half-life of 1.3 billion years and as
it decay, it leaves a daughter
material, argon. This method is used
mainly is used mainly to date rocks
older than 100 000 years.

FIRST UP 16
CONSULTANTS
2. URANIUM-LEAD METHOD

Uses uranium-238, which has a

half-life of 4.5 billion years.
Uranium-238 decays in a series of
steps, and ultimately becomes lead-
206. The uranium-lead method can
be used to date rocks more than 10
million years old.

FIRST UP 17
CONSULTANTS
3. RUBIDIUM-STRONTIUM METHOD

Uses rubidium-87, which

forms a stable daughter isotope,
strontium-87. The half-life of
Rubidium-87 is 49 billion years.
This method is used for rocks older
that 10 million years.

FIRST UP 18
CONSULTANTS
4. CARBON-14 METHOD
Uses in three forms of carbon:
carbon-12 and carbon-13, and the
radioactive isotope carbon-14. Living
plants and animals contain a constant
ratio of carbon-14 and carbon-12. Once
a plant or animal dies, no new carbon is
taken in. The amount of carbon-14
begins to decrease as the plant or animal
decays. The half-life of carbon-14 is
5730 years. The carbon-14 method is
used mainly for dating things that lived
within the last 50 000 years. FIRST UP 19
CONSULTANTS
 FIRST UP
CONSULTANTS

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