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13 - What is Carbon Dating

Title

What is Carbon Dating?

Reading Text

Everything that is alive has an element called carbon-14 in it. Plants, animals, and people all have carbon. When a living thing dies, the carbon stops entering its body. Slowly, the carbon starts to change and leave the object. This happens over a very long time. Scientists use 'carbon dating' to study old things. They measure how much carbon is left inside. This helps them find the age of the object. They can learn how old a bone, a piece of wood, or a shell is. It is like a specific clock for history. Carbon dating helps us understand the past.

Activities

Vocabulary

Definitions:
  • Text: Having life; not dead.
  • Text: A person who studies and knows a lot about science.
  • Text: To find the size, amount, or degree of something.
  • Text: How old someone or something is.
  • Text: A hard part inside the body of an animal or person.
Items:
  • Label: Alive
    Answer: A
  • Label: Scientist
    Answer: B
  • Label: Measure
    Answer: C
  • Label: Age
    Answer: D
  • Label: Bone
    Answer: E
Fill In The Blanks:
  • Before: The flowers in the garden are still
    After: and beautiful.
    Answer: alive
  • Before: A
    After: works in a laboratory to learn new things.
    Answer: scientist
  • Before: We need to
    After: the room to fit the new sofa.
    Answer: measure
  • Before: Can you guess the
    After: of this old painting?
    Answer: age
  • Before: The dog found a big
    After: in the park.
    Answer: bone
Scrambled:
  • Text: in carbon is things living All
    Answer: All living things have carbon in them.
  • Text: measure Scientists carbon the left
    Answer: Scientists measure the carbon left.
  • Text: old tells The age us carbon the
    Answer: The carbon tells us the old age.
  • Text: helps history understand It us
    Answer: It helps us understand history.
  • Text: study bones They old can
    Answer: They can study old bones.

Comprehension

Questions:
  • Text: Only people have carbon in their bodies.
    Answer: false
  • Text: Carbon changes when a living thing dies.
    Answer: true
  • Text: Scientists measure water to find the age of things.
    Answer: false
  • Text: Carbon dating works on old computers.
    Answer: false
  • Text: Carbon dating is like a clock for history.
    Answer: true

Written Expression

Questions:
  • Text: Why do you think it is important to know about the past?
  • Text: If you could find an old object, what would it be?
Examples:

Examples:

  • I think the past is important because we learn from mistakes.
  • I would like to find an old coin from a king.

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