Carbon-14 Carbon-14 Carbon-14, (C), or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples. Carbon-14 was discovered on February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Its existence had been suggested by Franz Kurie in 1934. There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon on Earth: carbon-12, which makes up 99% of all carbon on
Isotope analysis re-using of metals from different sources, limited reliable data and contamination of samples can be difficult problems in interpretation. All biologically active elements exist in a number of different isotopic forms, of which two or more are stable. For example, most carbon is present as C, with approximately 1% being C. The ratio of the two isotopes may be altered by biological and geophysical processes, and these differences can be utilized in a number of ways by ecologists. The main elements used in isotope ecology are carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and sulfur. Analysis of the ratio of O to O