Archeologists continue to debate the arrival of the first humans in the Western Hemisphere. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from a cave in Chile was used to establish the earliest date of human habitation in South America as 8700 years ago. This procedure involves comparing the 14C present in a sample of charcoal to the 14C present in a living tree of the same age. What fraction of the 14C initially present remained in the charcoal after 8700 years? The half-life of 14C is 5730 years. (Write the answer as a number with a decimal.)

Chemistry & Chemical Reactivity
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Author:John C. Kotz, Paul M. Treichel, John Townsend, David Treichel
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Chapter25: Nuclear Chemistry
Section25.4: Rates Of Nuclear Decay
Problem 25.5CYU
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Archeologists continue to debate the arrival of the first humans in the Western Hemisphere. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from a cave in Chile was used to establish the earliest date of human habitation in South America as 8700 years ago. This procedure involves comparing the 14C present in a sample of charcoal to the 14C present in a living tree of the same age.

What fraction of the 14C initially present remained in the charcoal after 8700 years? The half-life of 14C is 5730 years. (Write the answer as a number with a decimal.) 

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