Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years. In a plant fossil, you find that the #""^14C# has decayed to 1/32.0 of the original amount. How long ago was this plant alive?

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Explain it to me how to do it. I'm confused

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-17T15:37:10

#28560# years.. (Gosh.. I will die of boredom if I have to wait for that long)

Per Half Life, The Specimen Decays by half the amount present previously.

As, #1/32 = (1/2)^5#,

The Carbon-14 specimen has undergone #5# half-lives.

The Half-Life of Carbon-14 is = #5730# years.

So, 5 half-lives of Carbon-14 is = #5 * 5730# years = #28650# years.

Hope this helps.