Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Carbon 14 Has a Mind of Its Own

They seem to have a mind of their own. They are unconventional. They are unstable. They don’t seem to want to be carbon atoms. They want to be nitrogen atoms again. And they know how to do it. By throwing off an electron an anti-neutrino and voilà, the carbon 14 atom becomes a stable nitrogen 14 atom. In other words, the carbon 14 atom is radioactive. The process is called radioactive decay. Decay is the right word because it implies a time duration. How long before a carbon 14 atom reverts to being a nitrogen 14 atom?

Actually, no one knows the answer for a single atom. It might happen in the next second or 50,000 years from now. No one knows how to predict it or even if it is predictable. What we do know is that for a quantity of atoms, say a million or more, half of them will decay 5730 years. Then in the next 5730 years, half of the remaining half will decay. And again, of the half remaining of that half, half again will decay in another 5730 years.  In other words carbon 14 has a half life of 5730 years.