How does carbon dating work?
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There are two types of Carbon: C12 and C14. C14 is unstable and will eventually decay into C12.
C14 is constantly being produced from C12 in the higher levels of the atmosphere through interactions with cosmic rays. The rate that C14 is being generated (by these interactions) and being lost (through radioactive decay) is essentially the same, meaning the amount of C14 stays roughly constant.
Your body has carbon in it and that carbon came from the carbon in the atmosphere. This means that your body has the same ratio of C12:C14 as the atmosphere and this ratio is maintained because your body keeps replenishing itself.
When you die, your body stops replenishing itself and the carbon in your body when you die is no longer getting updated. That means the C14 in your body gradually decays into C12 but is never refreshed from the atmosphere because you’re dead.
Since we know the ratio of C12:C14 that was in your body while alive, and since we know the decay rate of C14 into C12, we can measure the ratio of C12:C14 in your dead body now and figure out how long it has been dead.
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