There are many types of dating; speed dating, double dating, blind dating, group dating. Each type of dating has its own advantages, and disadvantages. Double dating gives you additional people to talk with, this is great for combination with blind dating, where your date may not be top notch. Group dating gives you the chance to scope out possible future dates.
So, how does the Carbon-14 dating work? Like internet dating sites it relies on the fact that there are many different factors which can determine that mystical 'compatibility' factor between two people. However, where internet sites look at many factors, Carbon Dating relies only on age, and it leaves you to do the determination of whether the age is compatible or not. For example, not every 25 year old female will be compatible with 80 year old billionaires, some may only be interested in 85 year old billionaires, or even 90. This is where carbon dating comes into play.
It use to be that the only way to get the age of your date was to drive erratically on the date, get pulled over by the cops, and sneak a peek at their drivers license when the cop asks to see both of your license. Clearly this is not ideal.
All life on earth that we know of is composed of carbon, mostly carbon-12, which doesn't date well, lack of proper etiquette I am told. What makes carbon-14 so good at dating is that it can change. Girls are always trying to change boys, get them to wear nicer cloths, stop farting in public, and put the toilet seat down. Carbon-14 can become Nitrogen-14 with a little effort. This change is not without its drawbacks however. The carbon must get rid of one electron and one anti-neutrino. This is not a decision to be take lightly, once gone, they are gone forever. Or at least until the new improved nitrogen-14 gets an extra neutron. It can then become carbon-14, but must also get rid of a proton.
For the carbon dating all you need is a piece of the person you want to date, or already are dating. This can then be broken down into its constituent atoms and analyzed to see what percentage of the person is composed of the changeable carbon-14. I have heard it said in relation to marriage that "women marry a man because of who he can become hoping he will change. A man marries a woman hoping she will always be the same. Both are disappointed."
So, guys, go for the girls with low C-14, girls go for guys with high C-14. However, some of the values are distorted here in the atomic age, so for those born roughly after 1945 this type of date has been unreliable, and the drivers license method is preferred.
It is also important to note that C-14 levels tend to drop with age. In fact, someone 5568 years old would have only half of the C-14 that was present in their younger years. It is also worth noting that this type of dating only works on dead things, although some evidence exists to it working with the un-dead as well, if the right tissue sample is taken.
Friday, May 4, 2007
How does Carbon-14 Dating Work?
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4 comments:
What does it take to get a sample from an "un-dead" person? I've heard of this kind of thing on Coast to Coast (Art Bell's radio program), but I've never actually heard of a sample being taken. How would this be done?
In my experience
Oops, let me try again.
In my experience it depends on the type of undead. There are several major kinds; zombies, vampires, and other.
The prefered method for zombie sample collection is to shoot the zombie in the head with a shotgun and then take piece from the remains. (Note: Wear rubber gloves as there is some evidence that zombieism can be transfered by touch.)
The thing to do with vampires is to stay the heck away from them. Unless you are a goth or emo, in which case you probably like vampires, want to become one, are suicidal, and are an idiot. So the method for vampire sample collection is to use a heavily drugged emo/goth (you can probably find them in this condition) as bait. Then drop a garlic covered net on top of them and open fire with your wooden-stake-firing machinegun. Keep firing until you pierce the vampire through the heart - at which point it should collapse into ashes, allowing you to collect a sample. If the vapire does not collape into ashes, or if you do not posess a wooden-stak-firing machinegun, then refer to the first sentance of this paragraph.
For the other types it varies greatly. But if you can find a Dungeons and Dragons cleric then you might have a chance as they have the ability to deal with undead of all types. (see the Player's Handbook or d20srd.org for deatils.
After consulting with several experts it was determined that the safest way would be a necropsy, after a shotgun blast to the head. This would preclude dating however.
The second best option would be a shotgun blast in a non-essential body part, like a leg. If done at close range there should be tissue samples large enough behind the subject in a standard splatter pattern.
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