Carbon dating also cannot be used on artifacts over about 50,000 years old. These artifacts have gone through many carbon-14 half-lives and the amount of carbon-14 remaining in them is miniscule and very difficult to detect.
Why cant geologist use the carbon-14 method to date igneous rocks Why cant they use the carbon-14 method to date dinosaur bones?
But carbon-14 dating wont work on dinosaur bones. The half-life of carbon-14 is only 5,730 years, so carbon-14 dating is only effective on samples that are less than 50,000 years old. To determine the ages of these specimens, scientists need an isotope with a very long half-life.
What are 2 limits of using carbon-14 in dating the age of objects?
First, the older the object, the less carbon-14 there is to measure. Radiocarbon dating is therefore limited to objects that are younger than 50,000 to 60,000 years or so.