Why is carbon dating not useful for metal

Radiocarbon dating is a key tool archaeologists use to determine the age of plants and objects made with organic material. But new research shows that commonly accepted radiocarbon dating standards can miss the mark -- calling into question historical timelines. Archaeologist Sturt Manning and colleagues have revealed variations in the radiocarbon cycle at certain periods of time, affecting frequently cited standards used in archaeological and historical research relevant to the southern Levant region, which includes Israel, southern Jordan and Egypt. These variations, or offsets, of up to 20 years in the calibration of precise radiocarbon dating could be related to climatic conditions. Pre-modern radiocarbon chronologies rely on standardized Northern and Southern Hemisphere calibration curves to obtain calendar dates from organic material.

Asked by Wiki User. Metal artifacts rarely contain residues of organic products. Carbon dating is adequate only for artifacts containing organic materials. Carbon dating is a way of determining the age of certain archaeological artifacts of a biological origin up to about 50, years old.

Perhaps no concept in science is as misunderstood as "carbon dating. But, carbon dating can't be used to date either rocks or fossils. It is only useful for once-living things which still contain carbon, like flesh or bone or wood. Rocks and fossils, consisting only of inorganic minerals, cannot be dated by this scheme.

Asked by Wiki User. Life on earth is carbon based. Life forms here take in carbon and include it in their structure. Some of this carbon is carbon, and it is radioactive - it decays over time.