The Mummy problem An artifacts dealer has asked you to assist in determining the
ID: 524761 • Letter: T
Question
The Mummy problem An artifacts dealer has asked you to assist in determining the authenticity of a claim that he has a mummy dating from 1500 BC. A piece of cloth wrapping from the mummy has been provided and you analyze it by C-14 dating. You measure a number of samples and obtain an average 13.1 dpm (disintegrations per minute) from the sample and 15.2 dpm from a "modern" piece of cloth. The halt life of C-14 is 5730 years. Estimate the age of the cloth and comment on the authenticity of the claim.Explanation / Answer
the disintegration follows 1st order kinetics.
Nt= No* exp(-Kt), K= rate constant =0.693/half life= 0.693/ 5730 years=0.000121/yr
NO= 15.2 dpm and Nt= 13.1 dpm
13.1/15.2= exp(- 0.000121*t)
0.15= 0.000121* t
t= age of cloth= 0.15/0.000121= 1240 years.