The varnish contains cations, which are positively charged atoms or molecules. Different cations move throughout the environment at different rates, so the ratio of different cations to each other changes over time. By calibrating these ratios with dates obtained from rocks from a similar microenvironment, a minimum age for the varnish can be determined.

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This technique can only be applied to rocks from desert areas, where the varnish is most stable. Although cation-ratio dating has been widely used, recent studies suggest it has potential errors. Many of the dates obtained with this method are inaccurate due to improper chemical analyses. In addition, the varnish may not actually be stable over long periods of time. Thermoluminescence dating is very useful for determining the age of pottery.

Electrons from quartz and other minerals in the pottery clay are bumped out of their normal positions ground state when the clay is exposed to radiation. This radiation may come from radioactive substances such as uranium,. The longer the radiation exposure, the more electrons get bumped into an excited state. With more electrons in an excited state, more light is emitted upon heating. The process of displacing electrons begins again after the object cools.

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Scientists can determine how many years have passed since a ceramic was fired by heating it in the laboratory and measuring how much light is given off. Thermoluminescence dating has the advantage of covering the time interval between radiocarbon and potassium-argon dating , or 40, — , years. In addition, it can be used to date materials that cannot be dated with these other two methods. Optically stimulated luminescence OSL has only been used since It is very similar to thermoluminescence dating, both of which are considered "clock setting" techniques. Minerals found in sediments are sensitive to light.

Electrons found in the sediment grains leave the ground state when exposed to light, called recombination. To determine the age of sediment, scientists expose grains to a known amount of light and compare these grains with the unknown sediment. This technique can be used to determine the age of unheated sediments less than , years old. A disadvantage to this technique is that in order to get accurate results, the sediment to be tested cannot be exposed to light which would reset the "clock" , making sampling difficult. The absolute dating method utilizing tree ring growth is known as dendrochronology.

It is based on the fact that trees produce one growth ring each year. The rings form a distinctive pattern, which is the same for all members in a given species and geographical area. The patterns from trees of different ages including ancient wood are overlapped, forming a master pattern that can be used to date timbers thousands of years old with a resolution of one year.

Timbers can be used to date buildings and archaeological sites. In addition, tree rings are used to date changes in the climate such as sudden cool or dry periods. Dendrochronology has a range of one to 10, years or more. As previously mentioned, radioactive decay refers to the process in which a radioactive form of an element is converted into a decay product at a regular rate. Radioactive decay dating is not a single method of absolute dating but instead a group of related methods for absolute dating of samples.

Potassium-argon dating relies on the fact that when volcanic rocks are heated to extremely high temperatures, they release any argon gas trapped in them. As the rocks cool, argon 40 Ar begins to accumulate. Argon is formed in the rocks by the radioactive decay of potassium 40 K. The amount of 40 Ar formed is proportional to the decay rate half-life of 40 K, which is 1. In other words, it takes 1.

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This method is generally only applicable to rocks greater than three million years old, although with sensitive instruments, rocks several hundred thousand years old may be dated. The reason such old material is required is that it takes a very long time to accumulate enough 40 Ar to be measured accurately. Potassium-argon dating has been used to date volcanic layers above and below fossils and artifacts in east Africa.

Radiocarbon dating is used to date charcoal, wood, and other biological materials.

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The range of conventional radiocarbon dating is 30, — 40, years, but with sensitive instrumentation, this range can be extended to 70, years. Radiocarbon 14 C is a radioactive form of the element carbon. It decays spontaneously into nitrogen 14 N. Plants get most of their carbon from the air in the form of carbon dioxide , and animals get most of their carbon from plants or from animals that eat plants.

Relative to their atmospheric proportions, atoms of 14 C and of a non-radioactive form of carbon, 12 C, are equally likely to be incorporated into living organisms. When the organism dies, however, its body stops incorporating new carbon. The ratio will then begin to change as the 14 C in the dead organism decays into 14 N.

The rate at which this process occurs is called the half-life. This is the time required for half of the 14 C to decay into 14 N.

Dating methods

The half-life of 14 C is 5, years. This allows them to determine how much 14 C has formed since the death of the organism.

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One of the most familiar applications of radioactive dating is determining the age of fossilized remains, such as dinosaur bones. Radioactive dating is also used to authenticate the age of rare archaeological artifacts. Because items such as paper documents and cotton garments are produced from plants, they can be dated using radiocarbon dating. Without radioactive dating , a clever forgery might be indistinguishable from a real artifact.

There are some limitations, however, to the use of this technique. Samples that were heated or irradiated at some time may yield by radioactive dating an age less than the true age of the object. Because of this limitation, other dating techniques are often used along with radioactive dating to ensure accuracy. Uranium series dating techniques rely on the fact that radioactive uranium and thorium isotopes decay into a series of unstable, radioactive "daughter" isotopes; this process continues until a stable non-radioactive lead isotope is formed.

The daughters have relatively short half-lives ranging from a few hundred thousand years down to only a few years.

The "parent" isotopes have half-lives of several billion years. This provides a dating range for the different uranium series of a few thousand years to , years. Uranium series have been used to date uranium-rich rocks, deep-sea sediments, shells, bones, and teeth, and to calculate the ages of ancient lakebeds. The two types of uranium series dating techniques are daughter deficiency methods and daughter excess methods. In daughter deficiency situations, the parent radioisotope is initially deposited by itself, without its daughter the isotope into which it decays present.

Absolute dating

Through time, the parent decays to the daughter until the two are in equilibrium equal amounts of each. The age of the deposit may be determined by measuring how much of the daughter has formed, providing that neither isotope has entered or exited the deposit after its initial formation. Living mollusks and corals will only take up dissolved compounds such as isotopes of uranium, so they will contain no protactinium, which is insoluble. Protactinium begins to accumulate via the decay of U after the organism dies.

Scientists can determine the age of the sample by measuring how much Pa is present and calculating how long it would have taken that amount to form. In the case of daughter excess, a larger amount of the daughter is initially deposited than the parent. Non-uranium daughters such as protactinium and thorium are insoluble, and precipitate out on the bottoms of bodies of water, forming daughter excesses in these sediments.