ABSTRACT
The original work utilised existing large Van de Graff accelerators in nuclear physics laboratories, which were capable of electrostatically accelerating high-energy beams of carbon ions derived from a sample source in the form of graphite. Within electrical and magnetic fields ions of the three carbon isotopes are split into three separate beams according to their atomic mass. The random nature of the decay process and uncertainties in the measurements, replicate counts on the sample preparation are very unlikely to yield precisely identical results, and this is nicely illustrated by the experiment undertaken at the British Museum. Aqueous organisms assimilate soluble bicarbonate from the water in which they live, and thus carbon is incorporated into their structure. Although the 14C (Carbon-14) from the water may be in equilibrium with the reservoir, in catchments that include limestone bedrock the latter will invariably contribute some totally non-radioactive carbon as a solute.
