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 January 17th, 2017, 04:10 PM #1 Newbie   Joined: Jan 2017 From: Warrington Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Exponential Decay The equation for exponential decay is N = N0 e^(-at) where N is the population at time t and N0 the amount at time t = 0. Find the age t , if an initial population of 14C atoms has decayed to 0.1% of its original amount and the decay parameter a is 1.226 × 10-4 y-1. Any suggestions/agreement on the answer to this question. Please note that the 'a' is supposed to be an alpha symbol, although an 'a' does the same job. I have an answer of 56344 years, although I'm doubting this answer as this just about on the borderline of the maximum age for carbon dating. Thanks in advance. 
 January 17th, 2017, 04:23 PM #2 Math Team   Joined: Jul 2011 From: Texas Posts: 2,883 Thanks: 1503 works fine for me ... if they really detected a 0.1% carbon 14 level $N = N_0 e^{-at}$ 100% of $C_{14}$ at $t = 0$ $0.1 = 100 e^{-at}$ $0.001 = e^{-at}$ $\ln(0.001) = -at$ $t = \dfrac{\ln(0.001)}{-a} = \dfrac{\ln(0.001)}{-1.226 \times 10^{-4}} = 56344$ years

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