Which method of dating is particularly effective within the range of up to 50,000 years?

Carbon-14 dating is particularly effective in dating organic materials that are up to around 50,000 years old. This radiocarbon dating method is based on measuring the amount of carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, that remains in a sample. Living organisms continuously take in carbon compounds, including carbon-14, while they are alive. Once the organism dies, it stops absorbing carbon, and the carbon-14 within its tissues begins to decay at a known rate (the half-life of carbon-14 is approximately 5,730 years).

This decay allows scientists to estimate the age of formerly living things accurately, making it highly suitable for archaeological finds, such as bones, wood, and other organic materials. The method is particularly useful for dating events that occurred in the recent past, thus establishing its effectiveness within the 50,000-year range.

In contrast, other dating methods have different applications and ranges. Uranium series dating typically applies to materials in the range of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, while potassium-argon dating is effective for dating volcanic materials and is used in much older contexts, often in the millions of years range. Thermoluminescence dating is useful for dating ceramics and sediment but has a