In the water molecules below what do the 8+ and 8- symbols mean?

relative dating involves things like higher layers are most recent than rocks lower in the sequence. this can be extended to the known sequence of fossils. rocks containing rabbit fossils are later than those containing dinosaur fossils.  

absolute dating methods mainly use radioactive elements that have known rates of decay and produce recognizable products. for example potassium 40 decays to produce argon. once a rock has solidified the argon is trapped. by measuring the argon and potassium0 you can get an accurate number for the age.  

some other methods are good for archaeological ages. dendrochronology involves recognizing the sequence of tree rings. the orientation of magnetized particles in baked clay can be used to date a fire.

hope this .. .

characteristics of hydrocarbons

to figure the total magnification of an image that you are viewing through the microscope is really quite simple. to get the total magnification take the power of the objective (4x, 10x, 40x) and multiply by the power of the eyepiece, (usually 10x)