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OftenBen · 3410 days ago · link · · parent · post: Carbon dating suggests early Quran is older than Muhammad [really?]
Ok, I know that nukes affect how things are carbon dated. Radon in basements too, I think. What are other factors that make radiocarbon dating difficult/imprecise?
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user-inactivated · 3409 days ago · link ·
Decay rates are statistical averages, correct. In this case 5700 +/- 50 or so years. For those who don't understand this, if I had a bucket of C14 that weighed 10 pounds, in roughly 5700 years I would have a bucket that weighs very marginally less than 10 pounds (E=MC^2 converts a very, VERY small amount of mass into energy during radioactive decay) but would be 1/2 C14 and 1/2 Nitrogen-14 (N14) If we sit and count the atoms at this point we should expect to be close to 1/2 and 1/2. This is why there is an error bar on any radiocarbon dating.