Your friend gives you a rock as a gift and tells you the rock is 40 million years old. How could you prove the rock is indeed 40 million years old? Design a procedure for determining the relative and absolute age of the rock.

Question

anonymous · Answer

Radiocarbon dating. Video lecture on how it works: 11min http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udkQwW6aLik

anonymous · Answer

Carbon 14's half life is too short for reliable dating beyond a few hundred thousand years. Look up isotopic dating methods for other isotopes you may be able to use.

anonymous · Answer

yea you would need to date it without a substance who's halflife is long enough to outlast the 40million years.

anonymous · Answer

thank you all . you were much help