The Half-Life of Radiocarbon (C14)

The half-life of ${\mathrm{C}}^{14}$ has been found to be 5720±47 years by means of the use of mass spectrometrically analyzed ${\mathrm{C}}^{14}$ ${\mathrm{O}}_2$ as a part of the counter gas in brass wall Geiger counters. Some of the problems of absolute $\beta$-counting with internal counters have been investigated, particularly the coincidence and end corrections.