![]() ![]() When an organism dies, however, there is no more uptake of C-14, but decay continues with a half-life of 5730 years. During life, an organism has the same isotopic ratio of C-12 : C-14 as in the atmosphere, which is 1trillion : 1. In the nucleus, a neutron changes into a proton, emitting βˉaccording to the following reaction: ¹⁴C -> ¹⁴N + eˉ + ṽ. Stable carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, carbon 14 has 2 neutrons too many. All living creatures consist of carbon, most of it is stable C-12 and a very small portion is the unstable isotope C-14 (how this is formed, see animation). How do we actually know how old a tree is? Well, we can of course determine the age via dendrochronology, but this is difficult with Lime trees, but also with Baobabs the former are hollow from about 300 years and the latter do not have a continuous sequence of growth rings in their trunk.īut here radioactivity can help us. The pub they have in the tree can easily accommodate 60 people. At that time, even the Giza Pyramids still had to be built. ![]() In any case, he planted quite a few before giving us Jesus, for the oldest among these veterans, the Sunland Baobab is estimated to be nearly 6,000 years old. Because of their strange shape, they say that God planted the Baobabs upside down. But is a 1000 years extremely old? Mwah.Ĭompared to the African Baobabs, our Lime trees are still in their infancy. For example, just across our border, in Heede (Germany) there is a 1000-year old and it doesn't look like it will give up tomorrow. Our Tree of Love is known to outshine all others, including in Treeland. My parents used to say "when you're already 6 meter underground, this one is still smiling at you.” I always laughed at that, but now I realize who has the last laugh. And this while I was almost literally born under a 600-year-old on our farmyard, with a trunk circumference of 6 meters. The chance that I am still on this earthly paradise in about 60 years is 0%. So in the future, no more excuses for not knowing what time it was!īut to be honest, as I get older I get more and more need for the clock below. This is accurate to a second in 5 billion years. Earlier I posted a video of a slipper that was worn in Chernobyl during the disaster there (1986) and it is still quite radioactive today because of this cesium (with a half-life of 30 years, so it can be explained).Ī scientist is of course never satisfied and atomic clocks are currently being developed based on strontium (of which there is also a radioactive isotope that is formed during fission) that "vibrates" with a frequency of a staggering 444,779,044,095,486 Hz. We also know about caesium-137 that is produced during nuclear fission in bombs and reactors. ![]() By the way, that "clock-cesium" is the only non-radioactive isotope in the family. Actually it is the most reactive metal on the periodic table, even more so than francium. I can live with that.īy the way, cesium is an interesting element anyway, actually very "positive", because it lovingly donates that outermost electron to anyone who wants it. It is accurate to the second every 158 million years. When this thing gets excited, its outermost electron vibrates at a frequency of exactly 9,192,631,770 Hz. But I think I'll go for the caesium-133 atom. You can set the clock on it, but what should you set it to then? My grandfather relied on his pendulum which counted a second each time it swung. ![]()
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