Application of Thermal Analysis in Radiocarbon Dating

Thermal analysis combined with mass spectrometry was applied to radiocarbon dating procedures (age determination of carbon containing samples) to determine the optimal temperature range for the reduction of CO₂ over metallic cobalt of various particle sizes. Experiments were carried out to show the different catalytic activities of cobalt of particle sizes 1, 1–45 and 44 μm. The morphology of the cobalt samples and the deposited carbon were investigated. The quantification of CH₄ and CO formed during the reduction of CO₂ was done by means of pulse thermal analysis. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.