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Radioactive Dating Game
A. DATING GAME
Now that we understand radioactive decay and half-lives, we can use them to determine how old rocks or fossils
are.
a. If you run into any issues in downloading or running the simulation, please reach out to
Technical Support at (855)877-9919 or using the Live Technical Support Chat feature.
2. Once the simulation is downloaded and open, click the “Dating Game” tab at the top of the screen.
3. To operate the probe, drag it to different items on or below the surface of the earth. The probe tells you
how much of the original element is still in the rock or fossil. You can measure C-14 or U-238, whichever
works better for the item you are measuring.
4. Use the graph to match the percent of element remaining, and then use the time shown to estimate the
age of the rock or fossil.
5. Let’s do an example:
a. Drag the probe to the dead tree to the right of the house.
b. Look at the probe reading: it tells you that there is 97.4% of the original C-14 remaining in the
dead tree.
c. Now find the green arrows on the graph at the top of the screen. Drag those arrows right or left
until the top line tells you that the C-14 percentage is 97.4%, the reading from the probe.
d. When you get the graph to read 97.4%, it tells you that the time has been 229 years.
e. Type this number into the box for “Estimate age of dead tree” and click “Check Estimate.”
f. You should get a green smiley face, indicating that you have correctly figured out the age of the
dead tree.
Repeat the above process for all the other items. Fill in the table below. Hint: For the last four items on the list,
neither C-14 or U-238 will work well. Select “Custom”, and pick a half-life that gives you something other than 0.0% on the
probe. Indicate the half-life used in the “Element Used” column.
Item Age Element Used Geologic Era Geologic Period
Animal Skull 145 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
House 69 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Living Tree 0 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Distant Living Tree 0 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Bone 1,465 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Wooden Cup 1,029 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Human Skull 203 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Fish Bones 16,036 years
Rock 1 144,680,000 yrs Uranium-238 Mesozoic Jurassic
Rock 2 257,870,000 yrs Uranium-38 Paleozoic Permian
Rock 3 461,610,000 yrs Uranium-238 Paleozoic Ordovician
Uranium-238 Proterozoic Neoproterozoic
Rock 4 710,630,000 yrs
Rock 5 1,250,000,000 yrs Uranium-238 Proterozoic Mesoproterozoic
Fish Fossil 27,980,000 yrs 10my Cenozoic Tertiary
Dinosaur Skull 154,800,000 yrs 100my Mesozoic Jurassic
Trilobite 309,110,000 yrs 100my Paleozoic Pennsylvanian
This study source was downloaded by 1827175 from cliffsnotes.com on 01-08-2026 16:30:12 GMT -06:00
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Radioactive Dating Game
A. DATING GAME
Now that we understand radioactive decay and half-lives, we can use them to determine how old rocks or fossils
are.
a. If you run into any issues in downloading or running the simulation, please reach out to
Technical Support at (855)877-9919 or using the Live Technical Support Chat feature.
2. Once the simulation is downloaded and open, click the “Dating Game” tab at the top of the screen.
3. To operate the probe, drag it to different items on or below the surface of the earth. The probe tells you
how much of the original element is still in the rock or fossil. You can measure C-14 or U-238, whichever
works better for the item you are measuring.
4. Use the graph to match the percent of element remaining, and then use the time shown to estimate the
age of the rock or fossil.
5. Let’s do an example:
a. Drag the probe to the dead tree to the right of the house.
b. Look at the probe reading: it tells you that there is 97.4% of the original C-14 remaining in the
dead tree.
c. Now find the green arrows on the graph at the top of the screen. Drag those arrows right or left
until the top line tells you that the C-14 percentage is 97.4%, the reading from the probe.
d. When you get the graph to read 97.4%, it tells you that the time has been 229 years.
e. Type this number into the box for “Estimate age of dead tree” and click “Check Estimate.”
f. You should get a green smiley face, indicating that you have correctly figured out the age of the
dead tree.
Repeat the above process for all the other items. Fill in the table below. Hint: For the last four items on the list,
neither C-14 or U-238 will work well. Select “Custom”, and pick a half-life that gives you something other than 0.0% on the
probe. Indicate the half-life used in the “Element Used” column.
Item Age Element Used Geologic Era Geologic Period
Animal Skull 145 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
House 69 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Living Tree 0 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Distant Living Tree 0 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Bone 1,465 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Wooden Cup 1,029 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Human Skull 203 years Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Carbon-14 Cenozoic Quaternary
Fish Bones 16,036 years
Rock 1 144,680,000 yrs Uranium-238 Mesozoic Jurassic
Rock 2 257,870,000 yrs Uranium-38 Paleozoic Permian
Rock 3 461,610,000 yrs Uranium-238 Paleozoic Ordovician
Uranium-238 Proterozoic Neoproterozoic
Rock 4 710,630,000 yrs
Rock 5 1,250,000,000 yrs Uranium-238 Proterozoic Mesoproterozoic
Fish Fossil 27,980,000 yrs 10my Cenozoic Tertiary
Dinosaur Skull 154,800,000 yrs 100my Mesozoic Jurassic
Trilobite 309,110,000 yrs 100my Paleozoic Pennsylvanian
This study source was downloaded by 1827175 from cliffsnotes.com on 01-08-2026 16:30:12 GMT -06:00
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