The method is now used routinely throughout archaeology, geology and other sciences to determine the age of ancient carbon-based objects that originated from living organisms.

What are the two types of carbon dating?

Gas proportional counting, liquid scintillation counting and accelerator mass spectrometry are the three principal radiocarbon dating methods.

What devices use carbon dating?

Accelerator Mass Spectrometer In the early years of radiocarbon dating a products decay was measured, but this required huge samples (e.g. half a human femur). Many labs now use an Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS), a machine that can detect and measure the presence of different isotopes, to count the individual 14C atoms in a sample.