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radiocarbon
Carbon-14 (14C); the unstable, radioactive isotope of carbon having atomic number 6 and atomic mass 14. It is continuously produced in the Earth's upper atmosphere by cosmic ray bombardment. In space, 14C is produced when cosmic rays interact with oxygen in silicate minerals in rocks. The half-life of 14C is 5,730 years, which makes this radioisotope suitable for dating rocks and archaeological items as old as about 75,000 years.
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• GEOLOGY AND PLANETARY SCIENCE
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