EstimatedProphet
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 10:26 AM
Original message |
mosin
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 10:31 AM
Response to Original message |
|
individual carbon atoms. You can, however, date a sample using the proportion of C-14 atoms in the carbon population of the sample. Or something like that.
|
EstimatedProphet
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:29 AM
Response to Reply #1 |
2. Who do you think you are, Miss Manners? |
|
Who are you to say who I can and can't date? I'll date whoever I want! :):):)
|
aeolian
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:52 AM
Response to Reply #1 |
|
An inidvidual radioactive atom has a given probability of decay per unit time. This probability is constant for all similar isotopes (for example, all carbon-14 atoms will have this same probability).
Averaged over the billions of atoms in a typical sample, this translates into a geometric rate of decay: the "half-life" is the time required for half of the atoms to decay.
Therefore, if you are given a sample of carbon and told that, originally, say, half of the atoms were C14 and the rest were C12, you could easily measure the age of the sample by taking it over to a mass spectrometer and measuring the current proportion of C14 to C12.
Class dismissed. Attractive, twentysomething female students will be required to meet me in my office in 15 minutes.
|
Wapsie B
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:32 AM
Response to Original message |
aeolian
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #3 |
Wapsie B
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:48 AM
Response to Reply #6 |
|
attack me!
Sorry, I'm just got a warped sense of humor today.
:)
|
Aristus
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:35 AM
Response to Original message |
4. Don't date Carbon. Date me. I'm Potassium\Argon. |
|
I'm older and I last longer. :evilgrin:
|
aeolian
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:46 AM
Response to Reply #4 |
|
I'm Uranium-235.
4.2 billion year half-life, baby!
|
Aristus
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:51 AM
Response to Reply #7 |
9. Okay then, I'm Californium-252, most valuable substance EVER! |
|
Cost: $1,000 per microgram, or $250 Billion dollars per pound. Top THAT!
|
Wapsie B
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #9 |
|
Where do you get that stuff?
|
aeolian
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:54 AM
Response to Reply #11 |
13. a heavy-ion particle collider |
|
Or your grocer's freezer.
(huh?)
|
Aristus
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:55 AM
Response to Reply #11 |
14. Cecil Adams' "The Straight Dope" |
|
http://www.straightdope.com/Check it out. It's a lot of fun.
|
aeolian
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #9 |
|
effectively a single atomic nucleus, thousands of miles wide, with the mass of a star.
|
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:43 AM
Response to Original message |
Endangered Specie
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 11:54 AM
Response to Original message |
12. Screw Carbon, I'm Francium, Date ME!!! |
Aristus
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #12 |
16. Yeah, but you're so small you can't even be seen |
|
and you only last for fifteen minutes. :evilgrin:
|
Endangered Specie
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Sep-14-04 01:58 PM
Response to Reply #16 |
17. Actually, Im one of the biggest heaviest elements around! |
|
I really want to put my excess electron in your open orbital!
|
DU
AdBot (1000+ posts) |
Sat May 04th 2024, 12:00 PM
Response to Original message |