Ribh's D'Coopage

[RoyalChick]

Hmmm.... I thought it just decayed...The rate of decay reduces the amount of carbon which is measurable ~ which requires math I don't have. Any exchange becomes a containment because different substances start with different amounts of carbon which decay @ different rates. Like I said... I so appreciate that some people's minds work in ways that make sense of this stuff.

The math behind radioactive isotope decay is very hard - I can't believe you are expected to do that.
The radioactive carbon does just decay. But it keeps being replenished while the organism is alive because that organism takes it in from the environment (eg by eating it) and the radioactive carbon incorporates itself into that creature's body through what I think is isotopic exchange. So you can't tell the decay is happening while it is alive because there is always new 'fresh' radioactive carbon being brought on board.
But the minute the creature dies it takes no new radioactive carbon on board and then it is all about the decay math. I think the radioactivity level reduces to half in some impossibly long time - like thousands of years.

 

[MaryJanet]

So interesting!

 

[Ribh]

The math behind radioactive isotope decay is very hard - I can't believe you are expected to do that.
The radioactive carbon does just decay. But it keeps being replenished while the organism is alive because that organism takes it in from the environment (eg by eating it) and the radioactive carbon incorporates itself into that creature's body through what I think is isotopic exchange. So you can't tell the decay is happening while it is alive because there is always new 'fresh' radioactive carbon being brought on board.
But the minute the creature dies it takes no new radioactive carbon on board and then it is all about the decay math. I think the radioactivity level reduces to half in some impossibly long time - like thousands of years.

That's it, RC! They talk about half lives ~ which is where you end up after a certain amount of time ~ a very long time....& no, I'm not being expected to actually do the math ~ though some people are. This is an introductory course so I can do dead bodies later. Those who are interested in calibrating stuff can have a go.

What I'm interested in is people ~ and being dead they give me no real grief! For Writing: Styles & Context I had to submit a book proposal for something I might write.
I did mine on Skara Brae (oldest Neolithic settlement in Europe) Working title: Skara Brae; Living sustainably in the Neolithic Age, because I could talk about the great sweep of history in Scotland that barely changed in some ways for centuries due to the climate but which was sustainable because it incorporated a little bit of everything. It was how the crofters managed in a landscape that refused to grow much. Anthropology looks @ this stuff too but tends to look @ living cultures which I find rather disrespectful. History tends to focus on politics & wars ~ both extraordinarily dull. I like the everyday things that show how little people have really changed.

 

[Ribh]

So interesting!

I do think it's interesting. It doesn't matter to me if I don't understand it all. All knowledge is useful & can be built upon. Just talking to you & RC this morning has helped solidify what I've learnt & made better sense of it. My mother thinks I should have stuck to English but that's the Victorians ~ & I don't think I need to be any more depressed than I already am, & the Shakespeare I don't like, not the plays I do enjoy. I am picking up a couple of subjects of interest but @ some point I have to be employable & I do not want to teach!

 

[RoyalChick]

I do think it's interesting. It doesn't matter to me if I don't understand it all. All knowledge is useful & can be built upon. Just talking to you & RC this morning has helped solidify what I've learnt & made better sense of it. My mother thinks I should have stuck to English but that's the Victorians ~ & I don't think I need to be any more depressed than I already am, & the Shakespeare I don't like, not the plays I do enjoy. I am picking up a couple of subjects of interest but @ some point I have to be employable & I do not want to teach!

Just let us know if we can help! I have been a bit of a geek from a very young age so happy to try and use that accumulated geekdom any time!

 

[Ribh]

Just let us know if we can help! I have been a bit of a geek from a very young age so happy to try and use that accumulated geekdom any time!

Thank you. MJ has offered too. I'm just not sure what to ask. Listening to me blather is so lovely of you both.

 

[MaryJanet]

And just think: all this stuff about radioactivity was first observed by a woman! Marie Curie. Although there were some other folks working on similar lines at the time, she did more sooner than they did.

 

[MaryJanet]

Thank you. MJ has offered too. I'm just not sure what to ask. Listening to me blather is so lovely of you both.

It's not blather! I'm genuinely fascinated!

 

[RoyalChick]

Thank you. MJ has offered too. I'm just not sure what to ask. Listening to me blather is so lovely of you both.

I think you under-estimate the extent to which @MaryJanet and I enjoy engaging in a discussion of these things.
I don't have the application, focus, or energy to actually do what you are doing, but I am totally game to remind myself of specific topics that I peripherally understand.
It is interesting an fun!

 

[RoyalChick]

It's not blather! I'm genuinely fascinated!

Exactly!