radiocarbon

[ rey-dee-oh-kahr-buhn ]

noun

, Chemistry.

1. Also called carbon 14. a radioactive isotope of carbon with mass number 14 and a half-life of about 5730 years: widely used in the dating of organic materials.
2. any radioactive isotope of carbon.

radiocarbon

/ ˌreɪdɪəʊˈkɑːbən /

noun

1. a radioactive isotope of carbon, esp carbon-14 See carbon

radiocarbon

/ rā′dē-ō-kär′bən /

1. A radioactive isotope of carbon, especially carbon 14. Other radiocarbons include carbon 10, carbon 11, carbon 15, and carbon 16.

Word History and Origins

Origin of radiocarbon¹

First recorded in 1935–40; radio- + carbon

Example Sentences

New radiocarbon dating places his death at between 3,391 and 3,031 years ago.

From Science News For Students

To figure out how long ago the soil samples had frozen, the team used radiocarbon dating.

From Science News For Students

Because radiocarbon isotopes decay to the point of near disappearance around the 50,000 year mark, packrats can’t help us pin dates to organisms that existed before that threshold—say, dinosaurs.

From Popular-Science

The ancient DNA came from a tooth and two bone fragments radiocarbon dated to between around 43,000 and 46,000 years ago.

From Science News

“The correlation of the radiocarbon dates with periods of drought is remarkable,” Mills says.

From Science News

Could modern human DNA contamination affect the resultant radiocarbon date?

From The Daily Beast

Most all investigators accept these radiocarbon dates on the elk antlers as rock solid.

From The Daily Beast

Some of the carbon compounds in the various artifacts showed a faint trace of radiocarbon, others showed none.

From Project Gutenberg

Philon went on to explain the radiocarbon dating of the book.

From Project Gutenberg