Sentences with phrase «more radioactive carbon»

Not exact matches

Krypton dating is much like the more - heralded carbon - 14 dating technique that measures the decay of a radioactive isotope — which has constant and well - known decay rates — and compares it to a stable isotope.

The radioactive carbon 14 is isolated from the other atoms in a sample, making it possible to derive more accurate chronologies from much smaller archaeological or anthropological specimens

The method, which has taken Spalding more than a decade to develop, hinges on a massive pulse of radioactive carbon - 14 isotopes released by nuclear explosions in the 1950s and»60s, which doubled the amount of carbon - 14 in the atmosphere.

More than 50 years later, scientists have found a way to use radioactive carbon isotopes released into the atmosphere by nuclear testing to settle a long - standing debate in neuroscience: Does the adult human brain produce new neurons?

The technique hinges on carbon - 14, a radioactive isotope of the element that, unlike other more stable forms of carbon, decays away at a steady rate.

Jeff Severinghaus, a geoscientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said that through the use of radioactive isotopes, scientists are more than 99 percent sure that much of the carbon in the air has human fingerprints on it.

Examples include refining ways to securely handle radioactive waste from nuclear reactors; testing repositories for carbon dioxide captured at power plants; and, perhaps more important, improving the electricity grid so that it can manage large flows from intermittent sources like windmills and solar panels.