Re: How does Radiocarbon dating differ from radioactive dating?

How does radiocarbon dating differ from radioactive dating?

The short answer is that it doesn't. Radiocarbon dating is a type of 
radioactive dating that makes use of the radioactive decay of Carbon-14.

All radioactive dating techniques share two basic concepts. First, that the 
radioactive element (whatever it happens to be) enters into a substance in 
the same ratio that is found in the environment. When the radioactive 
element starts to decay, that ratio will change. Second, that the 
radioactive element decays at a known, and steady, rate. This rate of decay 
is known as the "half-life," which is the time it would take for half of 
the element to decay. Once you know the starting ratio and the decay rate 
you can calculate the time since the clock started ticking by comparing the 
current element ratios with their initial values.

Radiocarbon dating makes use of the decay of Carbon-14 into Nitrogen-14. 
Carbon-14 enters into a living thing, along with "normal" Carbon-12, until 
that living thing dies. Then no new carbon enters the system. So, you can 
calculate the time since death by comparing the ratio of Carbon-12 to 
Carbon-14.

You can find out a lot more about radiocarbon dating, or radiometric 
dating, by entering those keywords into the Mad Scientist search engine.