Radiocarbon dating samples Radiocarbon dating samples Samples used for radiocarbon dating must be handled carefully to avoid contamination. Not all material can be dated by this method; only samples containing organic matter can be tested: the date found will be the date of death of the plants or animals from which the sample originally came. Samples for dating need to be converted into a form suitable for measuring the content; this can mean conversion to gaseous, liquid, or solid form, depending on the measurement technique to be used. Before this can be done, however, the sample must be treated to remove any contamination
Environmental isotopes of these decays are alpha or beta decays, meaning that they all follow first order rate equations of the form formula_2, where λ is the half-life of the isotope in question. This makes it simple to determine the age of a sample based on the various ratios of radioactive isotopes that exist. One way uranium isotopes are used is to date rocks from millions to billions of years ago. This is through uranium-lead dating. This technique uses zircon samples and measures the lead content in them. Zircon incorporates uranium and thorium atoms into its crystal structure, but strongly rejects lead.