The Theme of Radiometric Dating in Kinetics

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Ever wonder how scientists figure out the age of really old stuff? Stuff like dinosaur fossils, remains from ancient civilizations, and things you find under the couch cushions?

Scientists accomplish this with a nifty trick called radiometric dating. By analyzing concentrations of radioactive isotopes with known half-lives inside our specimen, we can get a pretty good idea of how old something is, even if it's millions of years old. The trick lies in looking for the appropriate isotope. Carbon-14 and various isotopes of uranium are commonly used.

Based on the half-life of a cookie in my hand, these fossils must be about three seconds old. Wait a minute, that doesn't work.…

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