GCSE Physics

Archaeology: Dating Rocks

Have you ever wondered how scientists can say things like the earth is 4.5 billion years old? Well the answer is that they have studied the rocks inside the earth.

The earth contains a whole host of radioactive elements, many of which have huge half lives. By looking at how much of one type of radioisotope there is over another, it is relatively easy to give an age to the planet.


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