Use of radiometric dating

The new atom doesnt form the same kinds of chemical bonds that the old one did. It may not even be able to hold the parent atoms place in the compound it finds itself in, which results in an immediate breaking of the chemical bonds that hold the atom to the others in the mineral. In the next part of this article, Ill examine several different radiometric dating techniques, and show how the axioms I cited above translate into useful age measurements. C14 is also formed continuously from N14 (nitrogen-14) in the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

And since carbon is an essential element in living organisms, C14 appears in all terrestrial ( get C14 from the environment.

The rules are the same in all cases; the assumptions are different for each method.

For example, hydrogen-1 and hydrogen-2 are both nuclides of the element hydrogen, but hydrogen-1's nucleus contains only a proton, while hydrogen-2's nucleus contains a proton and a neutron.

In alpha decay, the radioactive atom emits an alpha particle.

An alpha particle contains two protons and two neutrons.

The decay rate and therefore the half-life are fixed characteristics of a nuclide. Thats the first axiom of radiometric dating techniques: the half-life of a given nuclide is a constant.

(Note that this doesnt mean the half-life of an element is a constant.