In richardjtelford/bio250: What the Package Does (One Line, Title Case)

knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE)
library(shiny)

Radiocarbon decay simulation

This exercise uses a simulation of ^14^C decay. It may take a few seconds to load. The plot on the left shows a collection of ^14^C atoms that decay over time, the plot on the right shows the proportion of the initial activity remaining.

Questions

• How long does it take for the ^14^C activity to fall to half the initial value?

• How long does it take for the ^14^C activity to fall from half to one quarter of the initial value?

• Why is the maximum age that ^14^C useful for about 55 000 years?

• How many half-lives is 55 000 years?

• A fossil leaf as an ^14^C activity that is 38% of modern. Approximately how old is it?

shinyAppDir(appDir = "14C_decay",  options = list(width = "100%", height = 700))

Contamination

• What is the apparent age of an early Quaternary fossil with 1% modern contamination (where modern is 1950 i.e. 0 yr BP)?

• What is the apparent age of a modern lake sediment with 1% in-washed Carboniferous coal.

shinyAppDir(appDir = "14C-contamination",  options = list(width = "100%", height = 700))

richardjtelford/bio250 documentation built on Oct. 12, 2022, 2:16 a.m.