RADIOCARBON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does radiocarbon mean? 

• RADIOCARBON (noun)
  The noun RADIOCARBON has 1 sense:

1. a radioactive isotope of carbon

  Familiarity information: RADIOCARBON used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RADIOCARBON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A radioactive isotope of carbon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

carbon 14; radiocarbon

Hypernyms ("radiocarbon" is a kind of...):

atomic number 6; C; carbon (an abundant nonmetallic tetravalent element occurring in three allotropic forms: amorphous carbon and graphite and diamond; occurs in all organic compounds)

 Context examples 

By directly measuring the radiocarbon ages of the aerosols, the scientists estimate that 19 to 40 percent of the organic matter is at least 5,000 years old.

(Ancient molecules from the sea likely burst into the air from ocean waves, National Science Foundation)

The second line of research has used radiocarbon dating to analyze the age at which 44 individuals died.

(The necropolis of El Barranquete in Níjar (Almería), proven to have been used for funerary rituals throughout the Bronze Age, University of Granada)

Radiocarbon dating of minute leaf and wood fragments preserved in the cave's ice indicates that its glacier is at least 10,500 years old, making it the oldest cave glacier in the world and one of the oldest glaciers on Earth outside the polar regions.

(Ice cave in Transylvania yields window into region's past, NSF)

Using published data from the circumpolar Arctic, their own new field observations of Siberian permafrost and thermokarsts, radiocarbon dating, atmospheric modeling and spatial analyses, the research team studied how thawing permafrost is affecting climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

One of the researchers, Gonzalo Aranda, explains that this re‑inspection has been focused on characterizing the population buried at that site from their anthropological and biochemical study, as well as from the analysis of the chronology and temporality of this cultural phenomenon through the radiocarbon dating of their funerary activities.

(The necropolis of El Barranquete in Níjar (Almería), proven to have been used for funerary rituals throughout the Bronze Age, University of Granada)