Art Forgeries and Their Detection - the Scientia Review

Carbon Dating
Carbon dating is the use decaying nitrogen of radiocarbon, or Carbon 14, a
common isotope, in order to determine a date around which a painting
was maid. The neutrons commonly produced in cosmic rays form this Car-
bon 14, and from that, scientists investigating the work of art and how old
it is. The carbon has a life span, and after a certain point, it starts to decay
at a constant rate, and because of its constant decrease in the presence of
the radiocarbon, the age of some artwork could be determined by count-
ing the number of remaining carbon 14. This technique is not relatively
useful because it involves destroying a large amount of materials.
Did You
Know?
● About half
the amount
of Carbon 14
would have
decayed after
about 5,730
years,