What is Carbon-14 Dating? Part 2

In session two on carbon-14, Mike discusses two important aspects about carbon-14.
1.    How does the carbon-14 dating method work?
2.    How reliable is the carbon-14 dating method?
Mike points out three things that must be known for carbon-14 dating to work.
1.    How long does it take C-14 to decay?
2.    What was the starting amount of C-14 in the creature when it died?
3.    Are there any assumptions involved?
Question one poses no problem. Numbers two and three do present major problems for the carbon-14 dating method. Question three also challenges the reliability of reported dates.