Asample of carbon of mass 250 mg from wood found in a tomb underwent 2480 carbon- 14 disintegrations in 20 h. estimate the time since death: assuming the modern sample underwent 1.84 times 10^4 disintegrations in the same time period.

Explanation:

Let the age to be found in years is y.

Hence,      

                        = (\frac{1}{2})^{\frac{y}{5730yr}}

Solve for y as follows.

                    0.53913 = (\frac{1}{2})^{\frac{y}{5730yr}}

Now, taking log on both the sides as follows

               log 0.53913 =

                =

                       z =

                         = 5107 years

Thus, we can conclude that the time since death is 5107 years.