Sunday, October 26, 2008

Fundamentals: Ratio of radioactive to stable atom

Potassium decay to argon which is stable . If the ratio of potassium to argon is found to be 1/7. The ratio N/No = 1/8 as the argon was potassium at the beginning . The ratio must only refer to radioactive atoms keeping count of its initial number and final number.The age of the rock and thus be calculated .