Problem

Prehistoric cave paintings were discovered in a cave in France. The paint contained 30% of the original carbon-14 Use the exponential decay model for carbon-14. A=A_{0} e^{-0.000121 t} to estimate the age of the paintings.

Answer

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Answer

Final Answer: The estimated age of the prehistoric cave paintings is approximately \(\boxed{9950}\) years.

Steps

Step 1 :The question is asking for the age of the paintings, given that they contain 30% of the original carbon-14. The exponential decay model for carbon-14 is given by \(A=A_{0} e^{-0.000121 t}\), where \(A\) is the amount of carbon-14 remaining, \(A_{0}\) is the original amount of carbon-14, and \(t\) is the time in years.

Step 2 :We know that \(A/A_{0} = 0.30\), because the paintings contain 30% of the original carbon-14. We can substitute this into the decay model and solve for \(t\).

Step 3 :Let's denote \(A/A_{0}\) as \(k\) and the decay constant as \(-0.000121\).

Step 4 :By substituting these values into the decay model, we can calculate the age of the paintings to be approximately 9950 years.

Step 5 :This is based on the assumption that the decay of carbon-14 follows an exponential model, and that the paintings contain 30% of the original carbon-14.

Step 6 :Final Answer: The estimated age of the prehistoric cave paintings is approximately \(\boxed{9950}\) years.

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