Carbon 14 dating is like a special kind of clock that scientists use to tell how old something is, like how old you are!
Imagine you have a big bag of cookies. Every year, your mom adds one more cookie to the bag. If there are 10 cookies in the bag now, she can guess when it started, maybe 10 years ago! That’s like Carbon 14 dating.
How the Clock Works
When plants and animals are alive, they take in a special kind of carbon called Carbon 14. It's like getting a cookie from your mom every year. But when they die, they stop getting new cookies, or Carbon 14. The old cookies start to disappear slowly over time.
Scientists can count how many Carbon 14 "cookies" are left in the bones or wood of something that used to be alive. If there are half as many cookies as when it was first made, they know about 5,730 years have passed, that’s one full turn of the clock!
How They Use It
Scientists use this method to figure out how old fossils, ancient trees, or even old buildings are. It's like checking the number of cookies in a bag to tell how long ago it started!
Examples
- An archaeologist finds a bone and discovers it's over 3,000 years old using this method.
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See also
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