I occasionally use hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which bubbles and seems
to help break up clay peds. I add some to water, then add that to
the bucket with the flot sample, and let it sock and efervese. I
buy it in pharmacies in large industrial sizes when I do use it.
something like 2-4 % solution.
Cheers
Christine
>Hi everybody,
>
>A colleague (not in the list) asks:
>
>"...I had a lot of trouble floating some of the samples manually
>last year due to a high clay content in the soil. You had mentioned
>and other references suggest a deflocculation agent --like sodium
>hexametaphosphate found in dishwasher detergent--added directly to
>the floatation water. It seemed to have helped a bit, but far from
>perfect. Do you know of any other additives that might help dissolve
>the clay for a manual system?"
>
>I am soon to be without e-mail for a few weeks, so if anyone can
>help, it'd be great if you could send a reply to Lynn Makowsky (
>mailto:[log in to unmask] )
>
>thanks in advance.
>
>Naomi.
>-------------------------------------
>Naomi F. Miller
>University of Pennsylvania Museum
>MASCA-Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology
>33rd and Spruce Streets
>Philadelphia, PA 19104
>--------------------------------------
>tel: (215) 898 4075; FAX: (215) 898-0657
>www: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~nmiller0/
--
Department of Anthropology
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA. 94720-3710
USA
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