A host of Chasing History, Chase Pipes possesses expertise in the fields of history, archeology, paleontology, and geology. In addition to hosting the show, Chase Pipes co-owns and operates the Smoky Mountain Relic room, which is home to an amalgam of fossils and artifacts.
All of the above disciplines recently received a boost when researchers figured out a way to more efficient way of determining the age of artifacts and fossils through radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating uses the deterioration of Carbon 14 to determine how old an artifact or a fossil is. A few years ago, researchers discovered a way to half the amount of time that it would take to figure out the age of an object.
Prior to this discovery, researchers would have to go through a protracted process that involved separating samples from the object. To date the objects, samples would have to be burned to be turned into carbon dioxide. The sample then had to be cleaned up, converted to solid carbon, and measured in the particle accelerator.
Today, however, the Positive Ion Mass Spectrometry (PIMS) system allows scientists to measure carbon more quickly. PIMS speeds up dating simply because it is a gas accepting system that does not need a high-energy particle accelerator. The system allows for scientists to extract enough carbon-14 to measure and date the sample quickly.
Chase Pipes 