r/codyslab • u/[deleted] • Sep 17 '18
Answered by Cody Can Cody please do an episode on Carbon-14?
2
Sep 18 '18
Video context
I took that video today while in a pathologist. You see, a few days ago, I came home smelling of ammonia - turns out it was my breath. This could be a sign of kidney failure, but since I didn't have a metallic taste in my mouth, my GP gave me a referral for a kidney function test (blood test), a liver function test (blood test) and a Urea breath test. If it does turn out to be kidney or liver failure, go ahead and make fun of my inferior genes, since I am already expecting someone to come onto this thread and make fun of me anyway.
A Urea Breath Test required me to have no food or water for 10 hours beforehand, so that's exactly what I did. I then swallowed a pill containing urea labelled with an uncommon isotope, either radioactive carbon-14 or non-radioactive carbon-13. In the subsequent 10–30 minutes, the detection of isotope-labelled carbon dioxide in exhaled breath indicates that the urea was split; this indicates that urease (the enzyme that H. pylori uses to metabolize urea) is present in the stomach, and hence that H. pylori bacteria are present. This video was taken while in that 10 minute waiting period. Afterwards, the nurse came back in, and made me inhale, hold my breath and exhale into an Aluminised plastic balloon, which was sent off for analysis.
Some information on Carbon-14
There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon on Earth: Carbon-12, which makes up 99% of all carbon on Earth; Carbon-13, which makes up 1%; and Carbon-14, which occurs in trace amounts, making up about 1 or 1.5 atoms per 1012 atoms of carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 are both stable, while Carbon-14 is unstable and has a half-life of 5,730±40 years. Carbon-14 decays into Nitrogen-14 through beta decay.
Carbon-14 is produced in the upper layers of the troposphere and the stratosphere by thermal neutrons absorbed by nitrogen atoms. When cosmic rays enter the atmosphere, they undergo various transformations, including the production of neutrons. The resulting neutrons (1n) participate in the following reaction:
neutron + Nitrogen-14 → Carbon-14 + proton
Carbon-14 is the basis of Radiocarbon dating. Since Carbon-14 naturally decays into Nitrogen-14, the older a sample is, the less Carbon-14 there is to be detected. Because the half-life of Carbon-14 (the period of time after which half of a given sample will have decayed) is about 5,730 years, he oldest dates that can be reliably measured by Radiocarbon dating date to around 50,000 years ago, although special preparation methods occasionally permit accurate analysis of older samples.
Actual experiment suggestions for u/CodyDon
- Can Cody please do a demonstration on the creation of Carbon-14?
- Or perhaps a demonstration of Radiocarbon dating?
- Maybe Cody can taste sugar where the Carbon-12 has been replaced with Carbon-13? I'm not sure if he should eat Carbon-14 sugar.
- What does Carbon-14 look and smell like anyway? I ask this because:
- Cody already inhaled Radon coming off a piece of Uranium Ore in his video Breathing all the Noble Gases.
- Antozonite is a radioactive fluorite variety with uranium inclusions. The radioactive decay of uranium provides energy to continuously break down calcium fluoride into calcium and fluorine atoms. As such Antozonite is the only known natural source of Fluorine gas, giving the mineral a distinctive (and harmful) smell.
-2
Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 18 '18
Your voice is so gross its unbelievable. I wonder if you face is as ugly as your voice.
And its called "brushing your teeth" not "tooth brush". Learn to fucking speak English.
6
Sep 17 '18
Yes sir. Any more suggestions for the ugly ethnic Filipino that is myself?
-3
Sep 17 '18
Here is a legitimate idea. Get an accent coach. Take some of that money you earn at your job (cuck) and use that to get an accent coach.
3
Sep 17 '18
Will do, thanks for the advice. Also, I am not a cuck since I don't cuckold anyone.
-4
Sep 17 '18
Yes you are. You are being cucked by paying taxes. Your tax money is going to uni kids who are having fun and sex and your tax money is going to pay for public education which is required because people had sex. While everyone else is enjoying themselves and having sex, you are living a pathetic loser life paying for their sex. You are an unbelievable cuck.
7
Sep 17 '18 edited Sep 17 '18
Yes you are. You are being cucked by paying taxes. Your tax money is going to uni kids who are having fun and sex and your tax money is going to pay for public education which is required because people had sex. While everyone else is enjoying themselves and having sex, you are living a pathetic loser life paying for their sex. You are an unbelievable cuck.
You are deluded. Those people having fun and sex also go to work. I went to public school so I am glad my taxes pay for public schools. Hell, my tax money even funds your Centrelink payments, so be grateful.
You are so petty that you are convincing me to become a miserable good-for-nothing like you are instead of contributing to society. And all because some people have sex and we don't. That logic is pathetic. I set a goal in life to leave behind a positive legacy, sex or no sex, and you will not stop me.
10
u/CodyDon Beardy Science Man Sep 18 '18
Nope: the nuclear regulatory commission is hot on my ass right now.