How does carbon dating work?
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radiation from space makes some carbon in the atmosphere radioactive. you breathe it in and it becomes part of your body. when you stop breathing in more of it, eventually all the radioactive carbon in your body runs out and stops being radioactive. this takes a very long time and scientists can tell when you stopped breathing because of how much radioactive carbon is left.
the space radiation is the important part; that’s why there’s more radioactive carbon floating around than there is in dead things. carbon dating is measuring how long something has been cut off from the source of radioactive carbon.
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