Carbon-dating machine reveals age of stones

By Dave Stephens
Assistant Campus Editor

Purdue researchers are helping scientists around the world by providing glimpses of the past and the future.

Purdue's Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory Lab is funded by the National Science Foundation, and it can measure the age of samples by using a practice that is commonly known as Carbon14 dating.

"We measure the rate of decay of certain rare isotopes," said Pankaj Sharma, a research scientist in the physics department.

An isotope, such as Carbon 14, is a form of an atom with a different atomic structure than the element normally does.

"An element such as carbon has a half-life of 5,730 years," said Sharma. "If we know the half-life of a sample, we can calculate the age of that sample."

By calculating a sample's age, scientists can determine how long ago major events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and glacial movements took place.

"We've recently had some samples sent here from India that showed a major earthquake happened 30,000 years ago," said Sharma.

Other work includes measuring the age of rocks deposited by glaciers. By determining the age of the rocks, scientists can find out how long ago glaciers covered the area and how fast they retreated.

"We are working on a project with the food and nutrition department that will help to find a cure for osteoporosis," said Dave Elmore, director of the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory Lab and a professor of physics.

Elmore said human volunteers will be injected with Calcium 14, which will show up on their skeletons. The volunteers will then take a medication aimed at reducing the effects of osteoporosis, making the drug's effect on the bone disease visible

"This way we can evaluate drugs and see if it's being effective or not," said Elmore.

Researchers at the lab were also able to help solve the question of Stonehenge's history.

"We measured the exposure time to sun of a rock from Stonehenge and were able to support the belief that the rocks were from over a hundred miles away in Wales," Elmore said.

The lab usually tests over 300 samples a year with over 300 scientists sending samples to the facility. Sharma said that it takes two-thirds of the day to set up the machine to test the samples and that the facility is always in use.

"We work with a lot of people from Purdue, but also from Australia, India, Sweden and many other parts of the world," said Sharma.

Sharma said his interaction with so many people is what makes his job ideal.

"I like to work with people," said Sharma. "The day I find that I am not learning something new I will probably quit."

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Carbon-dating machine reveals age of stones

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