Which unstable element is used to determine the age of volcanic rock argon carbon-12 potassium carbon-14

The process of finding the age of a volcanic rock is called radiometric dating. Before I explain the process, you will need to know some key things:

All rocks have readioactive elements, which are unstable. As time passes by, these radioactive elements break down into atoms that are more stable, which means that radioactivity decreases.

Also, let's talk about something called the potassium argon dating. This is a radiometric tenchnique used to determine how old an ingeous rock is. Potassium-40 decays to a gas known as Argon-40. When scientists get a rock they compare the decay of potassium to argon, and knowinf the rate, they determine the age of the rock.

So, here is what happens:

We know that radioactivity decays, in a constant rate, which means the rate of decay is the always the same. Given that, we just analise the rate of decay ofrom potassium-40 to argon-40 in comparison to the one on the rock, and determine it's age.

Therefore, the answer is Potassium. You might think, that because we were taling about Argon as well, the answer is both of them, but no. Everything starts with Potassium but it decays into Argon during the process.

Hope it helped,

BioTeacher101

The correct answer for the above statement is:

Scientists use radiometric dating to measure the age of volcanic rocks. The radioactive decomposition rates of certain radioactive components is a known and fixed amount

Potassium–argon dating, contracted K–Ar dating, is a radiometric dating method used in geochronology and archaeology. It is based on analysis of the product of the radioactive decay of an isotope of potassium (K) into argon (Ar)

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