🦖 How do scientists guess the age of dinosaurs?

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🦴 Step 1: Finding dinosaur fossils

• Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago
• Scientists find their bones, teeth, or footprints as fossils
• Fossils are found inside rocks

🧠 Bones themselves don’t have dates — rocks help tell the age

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🪨 Step 2: Looking at rock layers

Earth has layers of rock like a layered cake 🍰

• Top layers → younger
• Bottom layers → older

If a dinosaur fossil is found:

• Deep layer = very old dinosaur

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⏳ Step 3: Radiometric dating (science clock)

Some rocks have tiny radioactive atoms.

These atoms:

• Change very slowly over time
• Work like a natural clock

Scientists measure how much has changed to know:
👉 How old the rock is

🧠 This can tell ages like 65 million years old

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🧪 Step 4: Volcanic ash clues

• Dinosaur fossils are often near volcanic ash layers
• Ash can be dated very accurately
• Fossil age = age of the ash nearby

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📅 Step 5: Dinosaur era clues

Dinosaurs lived in:

• Triassic
• Jurassic
• Cretaceous

Each period has special rocks and fossils that help scientists guess the age.

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🧠 Easy way to remember

Scientists don’t date the dinosaur — they date the rock

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🌟 Fun facts for kids

• Dinosaurs lived from 230 to 66 million years ago
• Humans never met dinosaurs ❌
• A T-rex lived about 68 million years ago

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🧒 Simple example

Imagine finding a toy buried under:

• 10 layers of sand → older
• 2 layers of sand → newer

Same idea with fossils!

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📌 One-line summary

Scientists guess dinosaur age by studying rock layers and using natural atomic clocks.

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