Asked by CJ

17. Why can't carbon-14 be used to determine the age of fossils that are several hundred thousand years old?


Please and thank you!
Answered by DrBob222
Radioactive dating is limited by the half life of the element being used. C-14, with a half life of about 6,000 years, is not a good dating element for several hundred thousand years. With half of the material disappearing every 6,000 years or so there isn't enough to count after say 50,000 years.