Carbon-14
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{{Infobox isotope
| background = #999999
| isotope_name = Carbon-14
| num_neutrons = 8
| num_protons = 6
| isotope_filename =
| alternate_names = radiocarbon
| mass_number=14
| abundance = 1 part per trillion
| symbol=C
| decay_product = <sup>14</sup>N
| halflife=5,730
| error_halflife = 40 years
| mass=14.003241
| decay_mode1=Beta
| decay_energy1=.156476<ref>{{cite web|title=AME atomic mass evaluation 2003 | url=http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/masses/mass.mas03 | author=A.H Waptstra, G. Audi, and C. Thibault| accessdate=2007-06-03}}</ref>
}}
'''Carbon-14''', '''<sup>14</sup>C''', or '''radiocarbon''', is a [[radioactive isotope]] of [[carbon]] discovered on [[February 27]], [[1940]], by [[Martin Kamen]] and [[Sam Ruben]] at the [[University of California Radiation Laboratory]] in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]. Its [[atomic nucleus|nucleus]] contains 6 [[protons]] and 8 [[neutrons]]. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the [[radiocarbon dating]] method to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological samples.
There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon on Earth: 99% of the carbon is [[carbon-12]], 1% is [[carbon-13]], and carbon-14 occurs in trace amounts, e.g. making up as much as 1 [[Parts per notation|part per trillion]] (0.0000000001%) of the carbon on the atmosphere. The [[half-life]] of carbon-14 is 5,730±40 years. It decays into [[nitrogen-14]] through [[beta-decay]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nosams.whoi.edu/about/carbon_dating.html|title=What is carbon dating?|publisher=National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility|accessdate=2007-06-11}}</ref> The activity of the ''modern radiocarbon standard''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.c14dating.com/agecalc.html|title=Carbon 14:age calculation|publisher=C14dating.com|accessdate=2007-06-11}}</ref>is about 14 disintegrations per minute (dpm) per gram carbon <ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~martins/isohydro/c_14.html|title=Class notes for Isotope Hydrology EESC W 4886: Radiocarbon <sup>14</sup>C | accessdate=2007-06-11|publisher=Martin Stute's homepage at Columbia}}</ref>.
The [[atomic mass]] of carbon-14 is about 14.003241 [[atomic mass unit|amu]]. The different isotopes of carbon do not differ appreciably in their chemical properties. This is used in chemical research in a technique called [[carbon label]]ing: some carbon-12 atoms of a given compound are replaced with carbon-14 atoms (or some [[carbon-13]] atoms) in order to trace them along chemical reactions involving the given compound.
==Origin and radioactive decay of carbon-14==
Carbon-14 is produced in the upper layers of the troposphere and the stratosphere by [[thermal neutron]]s absorbed by [[nitrogen]] atoms. When [[cosmic ray]]s enter the atmosphere, they undergo various transformations, including the production of [[neutron]]s. The resulting neutrons (<sup>1</sup>n) participate in the following reaction:
:<sup>1</sup>n + <sup>14</sup>N → <sup>14</sup>C + <sup>1</sup>H
The highest rate of carbon-14 production takes place at altitudes of 9 to 15 [[kilometre|km]] (30,000 to 50,000 [[Foot (unit of length)|feet]]) and at high [[Geomagnetism|geomagnetic]] latitudes, but the carbon-14 readily mixes and becomes evenly distributed throughout the atmosphere and reacts with [[oxygen]] to form radioactive [[carbon dioxide]]. Carbon dioxide also dissolves in water and thus permeates the [[ocean]]s.
Carbon-14 can also be produced in [[ice]] by [[fast neutron]]s causing [[spallation]] reactions in [[oxygen]].
Carbon-14 then goes through radioactive [[beta decay]].
:<math>\mathrm{~^{14}_{6}C}\rightarrow\mathrm{~^{14}_{7}N}+ e^- + \bar{\nu}_e</math>
By emitting an electron and an [[antineutrino|anti-neutrino]], carbon-14 ([[half life]] of 5730 years) decays into the stable, non-radioactive isotope [[nitrogen-14]].
The inventory of carbon-14 in Earth's biosphere is about 300 million [[Curie]]s, of which most is in the oceans.<ref>{{cite web| title=Human Health Fact Sheet - Carbon 14 | publisher=Argonne National Laboratory, EVS | date=August 2005 | url=http://www.ead.anl.gov/pub/doc/carbon14.pdf}}</ref>
==Radiocarbon dating==
{{see main|Radiocarbon dating}}
'''Radiocarbon dating''' is a [[radiometric dating]] method that uses (<sup>14</sup>C) to determine the age of [[carbonaceous]] materials up to about 60,000 years old. The technique was developed by [[Willard Libby]] and his colleagues in 1949<ref>{{cite journal | author =Arnold, J. R. and Libby, W. F. | date=1949| title= Age Determinations by Radiocarbon Content: Checks with Samples of Known Age, | journal=Science | volume=110 | pages=678–680 | pmid=15407879 | doi=10.1126/science.110.2869.678}}</ref> during his tenure as a professor at the [[University of Chicago]]. Libby estimated that the steady state radioactivity concentration of exchangeable carbon-14 would be about 14 disintegrations per minute (dpm) per gram. In 1960, he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in chemistry]] for this work. One of the frequent uses of the technique is to date organic remains from archaeological sites. Plants fix atmospheric carbon during photosynthesis, so the level of <sup>14</sup>C in plants at the time wood is laid down, or in animals at the time they die, equals the level of <sup>14</sup>C in the atmosphere at that time. However, it decreases thereafter from radioactive decay, allowing the date of death or fixation to be estimated. The initial <sup>14</sup>C level for the calculation can either be estimated, or else directly compared with known year-by-year data from tree-ring data ([[dendrochronology]]) to 10,000 years ago, or from cave deposits ([[speleothem]]s), to about 45,000 years of age. A calculation or (more accurately) a direct comparison with tree ring or cave-deposit carbon-14 levels, gives the wood or animal sample age-from-formation. The technique has limitations within the modern industrial era, due to fossil fuel carbon (which has little carbon-14) being released into the atmosphere in large quantities, in the past several centuries.
==Carbon-14 and fossil fuels==
Most man-made chemicals are made of [[fossil fuel]]s, such as [[petroleum]] or [[coal]], in which the carbon-14 has long since decayed. However, oil deposits often contain trace amounts of carbon-14 (varying significantly, but ranging from 1% the ratio found in living organisms to amounts comparable to an apparent age of 40,000 years for oils with the highest levels of carbon-14).{{Fact|date=July 2007}} This may indicate possible contamination by small amounts of bacteria, underground sources of radiation (such as uranium decay, although reported measured amounts of <sup>14</sup>C/U in uranium-bearing ores imply an unlikely (improbably large) quantity of uranium involved, roughly half as much as the carbon in the deposits, to match the 10<sup>-15</sup> <sup>14</sup>C/C measured<ref>{{cite journal|title =Carbon-14 Abundances in Uranium Ores and Possible Spontaneous Exotic Emission from U-Series Nuclides|last = Jull|first = A.J.T.|coauthors =Barker, D., Donahue, D. J.|journal = Meteorics|volume = 20 |month=12|year=1985|pages=676}} ([http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985Metic..20..676J abstract])</ref>), or other unknown secondary sources of carbon-14 production. Presence of carbon-14 in the [[isotopic signature]] of a sample of carbonaceous material indicates its possible contamination by biogenic sources or the decay of radioactive material in surrounding geologic strata.
==Carbon-14 and nuclear tests==
[[Image:Radiocarbon bomb spike.svg|thumb|300px|right|Atmospheric <sup>14</sup>C, [[New Zealand]]<ref>{{cite web| url=http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/co2/welling.htm|title=Atmospheric δ<sup>14</sup>C record from Wellington|accessdate=2007-06-11| journal=Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center | date=1994 | publisher=Oak Ridge National Laboratory}}</ref> and [[Austria]]<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/co2/cent-verm.htm| author= Levin, I., et al. | title=δ<sup>14</sup>C record from Vermunt | journal = Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center | date=1994}}</ref>. The New Zealand curve is representative for the Southern Hemisphere, the Austrian curve is representative for the Northern Hemisphere. Atmospheric nuclear weapon tests almost doubled the concentration of <sup>14</sup>C in the Northern Hemisphere <ref>{{cite web | url=http://www1.phys.uu.nl/ams/Radiocarbon.htm | publisher=University of Utrecht | title= Radiocarbon dating | accessdate=2008-02-19}}</ref>.]]
The above-ground [[nuclear testing|nuclear tests]] that occurred in several countries between 1955 and 1963 dramatically increased the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere and subsequently in the biosphere; after the tests ended the atmospheric concentration of the isotope began to decrease.
One side effect of the change in atmospheric carbon-14 is that this enables the determination of the birth year of an individual: the amount of carbon-14 in [[tooth enamel]] is measured with [[accelerator mass spectrometry]] and compared to records of past atmospheric carbon-14 concentrations. Since teeth are formed at a specific age and do not exchange carbon thereafter, this method allows age to be determined to within 1.6 years. This method only works for individuals born after 1943,<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0922_050922_nuke_body.html | title=Radiation in Teeth Can Help Date, ID Bodies, Experts Say | journal = National Geographic News | date=2005-09-22 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| author=Spalding KL, Buchholz BA, Bergman LE, Druid H, Frisen J.| title= Forensics: age written in teeth by nuclear tests | journal=Nature | date=2005-09-15| volume=437 | pages=333–4 | pmid=16163340| doi=10.1038/437333a}}</ref>
and it must be known whether the individual was born in the [[Northern Hemisphere|Northern]] or the [[Southern Hemisphere]].
An alternative dating method relies on the lens of the eye; transparent proteins called "lens crystallines" produced during the first year of life are unchanged afterward, so measuring carbon-14 concentrations there can provide a record of the time of birth. The primary restrictions on the technology are that the person has to have been born after 1950, the lens must be removed while the subject is alive or within three days after death before it decays too much, and the individual cannot have subsisted primarily on seafood<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-lens23feb23,1,6680100.story | title=Radioactive eyes don't lie (about your age, anyway) | journal = Los Angeles Times | date=2008-02-23}}</ref>.
==Carbon-14 in the human body==
Since essentially all sources of human food are derived from plants, the carbon that comprises our bodies contains carbon-14 at the same concentration as the atmosphere. The beta-decays from this internal radiocarbon contribute approx 1 mrem/year (.01 [[mSv]] /year) to each person's [[Equivalent dose|dose]] of [[ionizing radiation]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States | author=NCRP Report No. 93 | publisher=National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements | date=1987}} ([http://lbl.gov/abc/wallchart/chapters/15/3.html excerpt]) </ref> This is small compared to the doses from [[Isotopes of potassium|potassium-40]] (0.39 mSv/year) and [[radon]] (which vary).
Carbon-14 can be used as a [[radioactive tracer]] in medicine. In the [[urea breath test]], a diagnostic test for ''[[Helicobacter pylori]]'', urea labeled with approx 1 μCi (37[[kBq]]) carbon-14 is fed to a patient. In the event of a ''H. pylori'' infection, the bacterial [[urease]] enzyme breaks down the urea into [[ammonia]] and radioactively-labeled [[carbon dioxide]], which can be detected by low-level counting of the patient's breath.<ref>{{cite web| title=Society of Nuclear Medicine Procedure Guideline for C-14 Urea Breath Test | date=2001-06-23 | url=http://interactive.snm.org/docs/pg_ch07_0403.pdf | accessdate=2007-07-04|format=PDF}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Isotopic tracer]]
*[[Radiocarbon dating]]
==References==
<references/>
* Kamen, Martin D. (1985). ''Radiant Science, Dark Politics: A Memoir of the Nuclear Age'' (foreword by [[Edwin M. McMillan]]), University of California Press, USA.
* [http://www.nosams.whoi.edu/about/carbon_dating.html What is Carbon Dating?], [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute]]
[[Category:Isotopes of carbon]]
[[Category:Environmental isotopes]]
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