Question

I WILL RATE BRAINLIEST! I JUST NEED HELP!
A fossilized animal that was killed by a volcano eruption has 12.5 percent of its original amount of carbon-14 remaining; this radioisotope has a half-life of 5730 years. How long ago did the volcano erupt?
I am really confused...

Answer 1

If they're half life, wouldn't that mean every 5730 years I would double? So 12.5 x 2= 25, 25 x 2 = 50, and 50 x 2 = 100% carbon-14. It doubled 3x so the 5730 x 3 = amount of years the volcano erupted

Answer 2

It erupted 17,190 years ago.
It has a half life of 5,730 years. Therefore, when it has 50% remaining, it has lived for 5,730 years. When it has 25% remaining, it has lived for 11,460 (5730+5730). When it has 12.5% remaining (25/2), then it has lived 17,190 years (11,460 + 5730).
:D