radiokarbonikvantitatiivinen

Radiokarbonikvantitatiivinen refers to the process of quantifying the amount of radiocarbon, specifically carbon-14 (¹⁴C), present in a sample. This is a key technique in radiocarbon dating, a method used to determine the age of organic materials. The principle behind radiocarbon dating is that living organisms absorb carbon from their environment, including a small, stable proportion of ¹⁴C. Once an organism dies, it no longer exchanges carbon with the atmosphere, and the ¹⁴C within its tissues begins to decay at a known rate, characterized by its half-life of approximately 5,730 years.

Quantifying the amount of radiocarbon in a sample involves measuring the remaining ¹⁴C. Historically, this was done using methods like beta counting, which detects the beta particles emitted as ¹⁴C decays. More advanced techniques, such as Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), allow for direct counting of individual ¹⁴C atoms. AMS is significantly more sensitive, requiring much smaller sample sizes and enabling dating of older materials. The quantitative measurement of ¹⁴C is then compared to the known atmospheric ¹⁴C levels at the time the organism lived, often after calibration to account for variations in atmospheric ¹⁴C over time, to establish an age for the sample. This quantitative assessment is fundamental to deriving a reliable radiocarbon age.