Question

a hiker in africa discovers a skull that contains 43% of its original amount of c-14 Find the age of the skull to the nearest year N=Noe^-kt No=inital amount of c-14 (at time t=0) N= amount of c-14 at time t K=.0001

Answer 1

3011 isnt the answer. 8440 is correct.

Answer 2

The amount of C-14 at time t is

`N(t) = N_(0) e^(-Kt)`
where
N₀ = inital amount of C-14
t = years
K = 0.0001 = 10⁻⁴

When the skull was discovered, the amount of C-14 contained 43% of N₀.
Therefore

`e^{-10^(-4)t} = 0.43 \\\\ -10^(-4) t = ln(0.43) \\\\ t = - (ln(0.43))/(10^(-4)) =8439.7 \, years`

Answer:
The age of the skull s 8440 years (nearest integer)