Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
carbon-14

carbon-14

3 4.9
A radioactive type of carbon used to find how old dead plants and animals are
  • noun
  • /ˈkɑrbən ˈfɔrˌtɛn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : carbono-14
  • This concept is relied upon, for example, when anthropologists use carbon-14 to date ancient artifacts...
  • carbon-14 dating
  • radioactive carbon-14
  • carbon-14 dating method

Examples

  • An American archaeologist, using carbon-14 tests, has dated a sighting stump found in the sand to A.D. 500.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • They can do this by measuring the amount of carbon-14 radiation in an object.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Have you ever heard of carbon-14 dating?

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Is he using Carbon-14 tests to determine what century she lived in?

    Blog text (18)

  • Navarra's oak has subsequently been subjected to at least seven carbon-14 tests to determine its age.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Carbon-14 is a rare form of carbon, a so-called radioisotope, that occurs naturally in the Earth's environment.

    Blog text (33)

  • Archaeologists often rely on carbon-14 dating to determine the ages of ancient artifacts.

  • Scientists measure the carbon-14 levels in a sample to estimate how long it has been since the organism died.

  • By analyzing the carbon-14 content, researchers were able to confirm the age of the fossil as over 10,000 years old.

Synonyms

radiocarbon
vscarbon-14
  • Specialized
5 6.7

A form of carbon that is slightly radioactive and used to date ancient objects

is the same but omits mention of natural occurrence

Surface Forms

carbon-14 singular
carbon-14s plural

Morphology

carbon-14 = carbon (semi-transparent) = carbon + 14

Formally 'carbon' combined with the numeral '14' clearly indicates a specific isotope variant, but understanding that this denotes a radioactive isotope used for dating requires scientific knowledge beyond just knowing 'carbon' and '14'.

Etymology

The word carbon-14 begins with carbon, from the Latin carbo meaning 'coal', because carbon is the element found in coal and in all living things. The -14 part names this particular form of carbon that has 14 particles in its centre and slowly breaks down, so scientists can use how much is left to tell the age of once-living things.