Question

What are some examples of radioactive dating?

Answer 1

Hint : The mechanism through which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation is known as radioactivity. The term "radioactive" refers to a substance that contains unstable nuclei.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
Radioactive dating is fascinating because it often brings history and science together. Carbon-$14$ dating is an example of radioactive dating. Carbon-$14$ dating can be used to determine the age of something that was once alive, whether it was a plant or an animal. In recent years, there have been a lot of wonderful examples in the news. When human or human-like bone fragments are discovered, carbon-$14$ dating is often used to establish the estimated age of the remains.
The most commonly used radioactive dating technique is potassium-argon (K-Ar). Potassium is found in a wide variety of minerals and can be used to date igneous and metamorphic rocks. The measurement of Argon accumulation in a mineral is done using the potassium-argon dating process. It is dependent on the presence of a small fixed sum of the radioisotope $^{40}K$ in natural potassium, which decays to the stable Argon isotope $^{{\text{40}}}{\text{Ar}}$ after around $1300$ million years. Unlike radiocarbon dating, which measures the absence of a material, K-Ar dating measures the deposition of Argon in a substance as a result of potassium decomposition.
The most accurate method for dating is uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating. Carbonate and silica from Quaternary sediments, as well as fossils, fall beyond the radiocarbon spectrum. Climate change and geologically recent environmental changes are documented in Quaternary geology. The age of emplacement of igneous rocks of all compositions, ranging in age from Tertiary to Early Archean, is determined using U-Pb geochronology of zircon, baddelyite, and monazite. Thermal occurrences, such as terrestrial meteoritic collisions, are dated using U-Pb ages of metamorphic minerals like zircon or monazite.

Note :
Radioactive dating is a technique for determining the age of materials such as rocks or carbon that had trace radioactive impurities added selectively when they were formed. The method compares the abundance of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in a substance with the abundance of their decay products, which form at a known constant rate of decay.