How can you be sure of the amount of carbon that enters an organisn's body?

Subject: How can you be sure of the amount of carbon that enters an organisn's body?

Date: Mon Oct 4 17:17:06 1999
Posted by Katie
Grade level: 7-9 School: Blue Mountain High School
City: Orwigsburg State/Province: PA Country: USA
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 939071826.Ch

Message:


In carbon-14 dating, a certain type of gun or whatever is hot at an 
organism to measure the amount of carbon right?  While the half life of 
carbon is known, how can you know how much carbon the organism has absorbed 
in their lifetime.  Is it the same for all organisms?  If one human 
absorbed 400000 and you test it and its 400, how can you tell that the 
organism had once absorbed 400000?

Re: How can you be sure of the amount of carbon that enters an organisn's body?

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