Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9780134089089
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Seth Shostak
Publisher: PEARSON
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Concept explainers
Question
Chapter 4, Problem 30TYU
To determine
Identify the statement “Science can never determine with confidence the times or sequence of events that occurred millions or billions of years ago” as true or false.
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionStudents have asked these similar questions
You want to use radiometric dating to determine the age of a specimen. You use Isotope Z, which has a half-life of 645 years. You measure your sample and find that 1/16 of the original amount of Isotope Z is present. How old is the sample?
A rock sample which originally contained 400 grams of radioactive isotope X now contains 25 grams of the material. The half-life of isotope X is 10,000 years. How old is the rock sample? (Give your answer without any punctuation or lables. For example: 15000).
Given that the half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years. Consider a sample of fossilized wood that when alive, would have contained 24 gm of carbon-14. It now contains 1.5 gm of carbon-14. How old is the sample?
Chapter 4 Solutions
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe three aspects of geology that are...Ch. 4 - What do we mean by the geological record? Why is...Ch. 4 - Describe the three basic types of rock and the...Ch. 4 - How are sedimentary strata made, and how do they...Ch. 4 - Describe the technique of radiometric dating, and...Ch. 4 - How do fossils form? Do most living organisms...Ch. 4 - Summarize the geological time scale. What are...Ch. 4 - Prob. 8RQCh. 4 - Briefly describe how outgassing led to the origin...Ch. 4 - What was the heavy bombardment, and what effect...
Ch. 4 - Briefly describe Earths core-mantle-crust...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the conveyorlike action of plate...Ch. 4 - Describe how plate tectonics shapes important...Ch. 4 - What evidence do we have for the operation of...Ch. 4 - What are the three requirements for a planetary...Ch. 4 - Briefly describe the mechanism by which the...Ch. 4 - What has happened to most of the carbon dioxide...Ch. 4 - What are ice ages, and what may cause them? What...Ch. 4 - Briefly summarize the key ways in which geology is...Ch. 4 - How do we think the Moon formed, and what evidence...Ch. 4 - We can expect that if there are paleontologists a...Ch. 4 - Nearly all the rocks I found in the lava fields of...Ch. 4 - Prob. 23TYUCh. 4 - Although Earth contains its densest material in...Ch. 4 - If you had a time machine that dropped you off on...Ch. 4 - If there were no plate tectonics on Earth, our...Ch. 4 - Without the greenhouse effect, there probably...Ch. 4 - If nitrogen were a greenhouse gas, our planet...Ch. 4 - We can learn a lot about Earths early history by...Ch. 4 - Prob. 30TYUCh. 4 - A rocks type (igneous, metamorphic, or...Ch. 4 - To learn a rocks age, we must (a) determine its...Ch. 4 - Radiometric dating now allows us to determine...Ch. 4 - Earths oceans formed (a) during the late stages of...Ch. 4 - We learn about the heavy bombardment by studying...Ch. 4 - Earth has retained a lot of internal heat...Ch. 4 - Plate tectonics is best described as a process...Ch. 4 - Earth has far less atmospheric carbon dioxide than...Ch. 4 - If Earth had more greenhouse gases in its...Ch. 4 - Snowball Earth refers to (a) one of a series of...Ch. 4 - The Age of Earth. Some people still question...Ch. 4 - Dating Planetary Surfaces. We have discussed two...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Differentiation. Suppose Earth had...Ch. 4 - Earth Without Plate Tectonics. Suppose plate...Ch. 4 - Feedback Processes in the Atmosphere. As the Sun...Ch. 4 - Geological Time. Geological time scales are often...Ch. 4 - Dating Lunar Rocks. You are analyzing Moon rocks...Ch. 4 - Carbon-14 Dating. The half-life of carbon-14 is...Ch. 4 - Martian Meteorite. Some unusual meteorites thought...Ch. 4 - Internal vs. External Heating. In daylight, Earths...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics. Typical motions of one plate...Ch. 4 - More Plate Tectonics. Consider a seafloor...Ch. 4 - Plate Tectonics and Us. Based on what you learned...
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- North America and Europe are moving apart at a rate of 2.5 cm/yr. They are now separated by 5,340 km. How long ago did they separate from each other?arrow_forwardThe radioactive element carbon-14 had a half-life of 5750 years. A scientist determined that the bones from a mastodon had lost 59.6% of their carbon-14. How old were the bones at the time they were discovered? The bones were about _ years old ? (Round to the nearest internet as needed )arrow_forwardThe majority of the research shows that tectonic plates move at the average rate of between approximately 0.60 cm/yr to 10 cm/yr. (a) What distance does it move in 1 s at this speed range? (b) What is its speed in kilometers per million years?arrow_forward
- Imagine you are a scientist and you are working with a museum on an archaeology exhibit. They tell you that they have an ancient leaf they believe to be 24,000 years old. You use radiocarbon dating and discover that the leaf contains 1/32 of the carbon-14 of a living plant. What do you tell the museum?(half life of 14-carbon = 6000 years)arrow_forwardThe evidence is overwhelming that the Grand Canyon was dug over a span of millions of years by the erosive power of the Colorado River and that river's tributary streams. Does this evidence support a catastrophic theory or an evolutionary theory?arrow_forwardWhat is meant by the phrase geologic time?arrow_forward
- If the half-life of a radioactive specimen is 100 years, then how long will it take for the specimen to reach 25% of its original amount? (24.3) (a) 25 years (b) 50 years (c) 100 years (d) 200 yearsarrow_forwardWhy is there so little evidence of Earth’s earliest history and therefore the period when life first began on our planet?arrow_forwardWhat fraction of the 40K that was on Earth when it formed 4.5×109 years ago is left today?arrow_forward
- An igneous rock contains a radioactive Isotope that has a half life of 10 million years. Careful analysis shows that only one quarter of the original concentration of the parent isotope is left. How old is the igneous rock ?arrow_forwardWhat is electroweak epoch?arrow_forwardOne of the fossilized remains of the Taong Tabon you found contains 153 grams of Carbon-14 at time t = 0. If the half-life of Carbon-14 is 5 730 years, how much Carbon-14 remains after 500 years?arrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
- An Introduction to Physical SciencePhysicsISBN:9781305079137Author:James Shipman, Jerry D. Wilson, Charles A. Higgins, Omar TorresPublisher:Cengage LearningFoundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399920Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage LearningStars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399944Author:Michael A. SeedsPublisher:Cengage Learning
- AstronomyPhysicsISBN:9781938168284Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. WolffPublisher:OpenStax
An Introduction to Physical Science
Physics
ISBN:9781305079137
Author:James Shipman, Jerry D. Wilson, Charles A. Higgins, Omar Torres
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399920
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Stars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399944
Author:Michael A. Seeds
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Astronomy
Physics
ISBN:9781938168284
Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher:OpenStax