rubidium-strontium dating
- noun
- /ruˈbɪdiəm ˈstrɒn.ti.əm ˈdeɪ.tɪŋ/
- Specialized
:
datación rubidio-estroncio
- Scientists often use rubidium-strontium dating to estimate the age of ancient geological formations.
Examples
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The geologist used rubidium-strontium dating to determine the age of the rock.
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The accuracy of rubidium-strontium dating depends on the careful measurement of isotope ratios in rocks.
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Some rocks are too young or too altered for rubidium-strontium dating to provide reliable results.
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Can you explain how rubidium-strontium dating works?
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Scientists often use rubidium-strontium dating to estimate the age of ancient geological formations.
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Some rocks are too young or too altered for rubidium-strontium dating to provide reliable results.
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The accuracy of rubidium-strontium dating depends on the careful measurement of isotope ratios in rocks.
Synonyms
1
4.8
A way to find how old things are by measuring atoms that have broken apart inside them
To find how old rocks or fossils are by studying them
Surface Forms
Morphology
rubidium-strontium + dating
The compound is compositionally transparent: 'dating' means determining age and the preceding element names indicate the chemical system used, so a learner who knows 'rubidium' and 'strontium' plus 'dating' can infer this is a method that dates samples using those elements. Although technical, the formation parallels common terms like 'carbon dating', making the meaning predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Rubidium-strontium dating is named after the two elements rubidium and strontium and the word 'dating', which here means 'to find the age'. Over a long time some rubidium slowly turns into strontium, so measuring how much of each there is is like reading a slow clock and lets scientists tell how old a rock is. That's why the name means a way to 'find the age' of rocks.