Does radiation affect carbon dating

The extra neutrons in Carbon-14’s case make it radioactive (thus the term, radiocarbon).

Relative dating stems from the idea that something is younger or older relative to something else.

After an organism dies, the radiocarbon decreases through a regular pattern of decay. The time taken for half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay in Carbon-14’s case is about 5730 years.

Half-lives vary according to the isotope, for example, Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4500 million years where as Nitrogen-17 has a half-life of 4.173 seconds!

Therefore, radiocarbon dates need to be calibrated with other dating techniques to ensure accuracy.

Plants are not the only organism that can process Carbon-14 from the air.

In a stratigraphical context objects closer to the surface are more recent in time relative to items deeper in the ground.