Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Radiocarbon Dating
• Accelerator mass spectrometry detects carbon 14 in samples.
• AMS dating involves accelerating the ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies followed by mass analysis.
• Samples are converted to graphite prior to AMS carbon dating.
• Although more expensive than radiometric dating, AMS dating has higher precision and needs small sample sizes.
• Aside from archaeology and geology, AMS dating is also used in other fields like biomedical research and ocean sciences research.