1. The Completely and Utterly True Tale of Dave the Giraffe

2. My name’s Dave
Once upon a time, there was a giraffe called Dave.

3. Then there was an ex-giraffe called Dave.

4. Dave the Dead Giraffe

5. The weather was unkind to Dead Dave.X X

6. Years passed…
…Dead Dave got buried. X X

7. This is Bobby…
…he’s building himself a swimming pool.

8. But, Dead Dave has other ideas…

9. Dr. Clever, the very clever physicist, is called in…to, erm, date Dead Dave.

10. He’s been dead for 11,460 years.

11. Wow, Dr. Clever, that’s very clever. How did you determine that?
Well, let me tell you…

12. The sun constantly causes the carbon atoms in CO2, high up in the atmosphere, to change from 12C to 14C.
About 3% of all carbon on Earth is 14C as a result.

13. Plants photosynthesise it…
…and animals eat it.

14. 14C is in your remains…
…but constantly decaying.

15. The longer you’re dead…

16. The longer you’re dead…
…the less you have.

17. Until you don’t have much at all…

18. Wow, Dr. Clever, that is clever.
Just compare the amount now to what it was originally, and you get the date of death.
Wow, Dr. Clever, that is clever.

19. Dead Dave has 0.75% 14C compared to 12C. He began with 3%.
So, it halved from 3% to 1.5%, and then halved again from 1.5% to 0.75%.
That’s TWO halvings.
14C’s half-life is 5730 (±40) years; so, Dave stopped eating 11,460 (±80) years ago.