carbon-14, the longest-lived radioactive isotope of carbon, whose decay allows the accurate dating of archaeological artifacts.carbon-14, the longest-lived radioactive isotope

Why is carbon-14 useful in radioactive dating?

Carbon-14 is considered a radioactive isotope of carbon. Because its unstable, carbon-14 will eventually decay back to carbon-12 isotopes. And thats the key to radiocarbon dating. Scientists measure the ratio of carbon isotopes to be able to estimate how far back in time a biological sample was active or alive.