Question

Is the half life of carbon 14 5730 years?

Answer 1

The figure `5730` years seems to be the middle estimate for the half life of `""^14"C"`, with uncertainty `+-40` years.

Explanation:

These figures are from the Wikipedia entry on Carbon-14.

The value has been calculated by correlating `""^14"C"` / `""^12"C"` ratios with other indicators of age such as comparing tree-ring dates of trees whose lifetimes overlapped.

Trees such as Bristlecone pines can live to ages in excess of `6000` years, so a couple of Bristlecone pines with overlapping lifetimes, but dying a few thousand years apart could in theory provide some very useful data for such calibration.