Chapter 3- Supplementary Materials Flashcards
Apparent age
Age based on evidence obtained by indirect means
Archaeology
The scientific study of the material remains of the past human life and activities
Daughter product
A new element formed as a result of radioactive decay
Ejecta (volcanic)
Material blown out in the eruption of a volcano
Fiat creation
Brought into existence by Divine command
Half-life
The time needed for one half of the atoms of a radioactive substance to decay
Inorganic
Pertaining to things from non living sources
Isotope
Atoms of the same element, but with different numbers of neutrons
Lunar
Pertaining to the moon
Meteorite
A celestial body that enters the earths atmosphere and hits the surface.
What does the Principle of Uniformity state?
“The present is the key to the past”
Radioactive decay
The process of on element becoming another by giving off particle or rays
Radiometric age
The age determined by comparing the amount of radioactive parent elements and its stable daughter product present in the sample
Radiometric dating
The measurement of geologic time by means of the rate of disintegration of radioactive elements
Salinity
Th concentration of salt in solution
Sedimentation
The depositing of silt, mud, sand, and gravel by wind or water.
4 common daughter pairs?
Uranium-238 Lead-206
Potassium-40 Argon-40
Rubidium-87 Strontium-87
Carbon-14 Nitrogen-14
Radioactivity
The natural process of unstable elements changing into another element that is no longer radioactive
4 things give off during radioactivity
Alpha particles
Beta particles
Gamma rays
X-rays
Is the half life of an element predictable or subject to change?
Predictable
What kind of material would you date, using the Carbon-14 method?
Anything organic with Carbon in it (Plants, animals, people, rocks,.. etc
Two events which are known to have changed the ratios of radioactive and non- radioactive carbon in the atmosphere?
The industrial revolution
The hydrogen bomb
If there is a Uranium to Lead decay sequence, which is one is the Daughter Product?
Lead
What is a hydrogen bomb?
From 1954 to around 1963, trees all over the world
sucked in extra dollops of Carbon-14. All trees around the world that were alive in 1954 have a marker in them that shows that they went through a huge ‘spike’ in Carbon-14
What are the two weak assumptions that radiometric dating is based on?
- The assumption that the clock was reset to zero
- The assumption that the system under study has remained closed to outside elements, and that is impossible because we weren’t present during the event and able to immediately isolate the sample from its surroundings.
What is the Palermo Stone and Ebla tablet?
They are the oldest written historical records.
What are the only records that span the entire history of life?
The Holy Bible and some other religious writings
What ages do we get for the earth in the Bible?
Anywhere from 6,000-7,700 years
What dos science say about the age of the earth?
That it is millions of years old
Who founded the principle “the present is the key to the past”?
James Hutton
What is a reason for the conflicting ages of the earth?
The failure of the assumptions to account for “storms”
An element is said to be radioactive if it is…..
Capable of spontaneously changing into another element through the emission of a charge particle
What is the original radioactive element?
The Parent isotope
What atomic number does an element have to be greater than to be atomic?
83
What is Tritium half life?
12.33 years
What does Radioactive decay end?
When a non radioactive element is formed
