T/5730 *34. MULTI-STEP PROBLEM When a plant or animal dies, it stops
acquiring carbon-14 from the atmosphere. Carbon-14 decays
over time with a half-life of about 5730 years. The percent P of
the original amount of carbon-14 that remains in a sample after
t years is given by this equation:
P= 100()
2
a. What percent of the original carbon-14 remains in a
sample after 2500 years? 5000 years? 10,000 years?
b. Graph the model.
c. An archaeologist found a bison bone that contained about
a
37% of the carbon-14 present when the bison died. Use the
graph to estimate the age of the bone when it was found.