A child from down the street from your house brings an object that looks like a bone, and says "look, I found a dinosaur bone." Which of the following would not be useful in evaluating their claim? A) Examine the object for hardness to determine if the sample is permineralized. B) Evaluate the object for fine textures indicative of bone material or replaced bone material. C) Extract charcoal from the object and use carbon- 14 dating. D) Ask if the object was found embedded in rock.

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Carbon-14 dating is not a reliable method for dating fossils as it can only be used to determine the age of once-living organisms that died within the past 50,000 years. Dinosaurs went extinct over 65 million years ago, so using carbon-14 dating would not be useful in evaluating the claim. A, B, and D would be useful in evaluating the claim as permineralization, fine textures, and the presence of surrounding rock are all indicators of fossilized bone.

A Child from Down the Street from Your House Brings