The radioactive element​ carbon-14 has a​ half-life of 5750 years. A scientist determined that the bones from a mastodon had lost 69.4​% of their​ carbon-14. How old were the bones at the time they were​ discovered?

Respuesta :

Answer: 9595.8 years

Explanation:

Half life is the amount of time taken by a radioactive material to decay to half of its original value.

[tex]t_{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{0.693}{k}[/tex]

[tex]k=\frac{0.693}{5750}=1.2\times 10^{-4}years^{-1}[/tex]

Expression for rate law for first order kinetics is given by:

[tex]t=\frac{2.303}{k}\log\frac{a}{a-x}[/tex]

where,

k = rate constant  

t = age of sample

a = let initial amount of the reactant  =100

x = amount decomposed or lost = [tex]\frac{69.4}{100}\times 100=69.4[/tex]

a - x = amount left after decay process= (100-69.4)= 30.6

Putting in the values:

[tex]t=\frac{2.303}{1.2\times 10^{-4}}\log\frac{100}{30.6}[/tex]

[tex]t=9595.8years[/tex]

Thus the bones were 9595.8 years old.