WordNet
carbon 14
n. a radioactive isotope of carbon [syn: radiocarbon]
Usage examples of "carbon 14".
It's true that Carbon 14 dating has been used primarily by archaeologists, and has been shown to be quite reliable.
A second problem in radiocarbon dating is that the carbon 14/carbon 12 ratio of the atmosphere is in fact not rigidly constant but fluctuates slightly with time, so calculations of radiocarbon dates based on the assumption of a constant ratio are subject to small systematic errors.