Porosity and Particle size
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Ken Jensen
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:09 am
- Occupation: Paralegal
- Project Question: On the Porosity and Particle size experiment, is it ok to use granite samples we obtained from a countertop makers scraps? How should we determine the particle sizes of the various samples we got? When I first tried the project, what I considered the large grain size and fine grade size samples, the amount of volume displaced came out the same. How big should the samples of granite rock be? Thanks, Ken Jensen
- Project Due Date: January 25, 2008 However, we will be working it this weekend (January 19-20).
- Project Status: I am conducting my experiment
Porosity and Particle size
Is it ok to use samples of granite from a countertop manufacturing company for the porosity and particle size experiment? How specifically do you determine particle size? How big or small can the rock particles be in the experiment? I have crushed each type of granite into small pieces. Thanks, Ken Jensen
Re: Porosity and Particle size
This looks like a very interesting project! I'm not entirely sure whether it's okay to use granite from a countertop manufacturing company- as it is a countertop manufacturing company, it would not be very practical for countertops to be porous. However, I don't know how the company will send the sample. If possible, you could consider obtaining granite from another source, and comparing that granite to the granite from a countertop manufacturing company.
From what I can tell, the particle size should be categorized as 'large, medium, small, or fine'. So, basically, the particle size will be a repeating unit in a sample. The way we did it in school was to use a small hammer to break the rock apart. If what comes off is powdery, it would be 'fine'. If it makes more sense to think of it this way, salt has a fine/small particle size, although rock salt can be any size, but the basic unit in any size will still be one grain of salt. Although, don't use salt in your experiment, that's another way to think of it.
Try a wide variety of particle size to get better results. Also, since the variables in this experiment are qualitative, and not quantitative, the samples will most likely be compared against each other. A 'large' particle size may not necessarily be large, but it will be larger than a 'medium' or 'small' or 'fine' particle.
Also, when you crush the samples, keep in mind that the smaller you make your samples, the harder it will be to tell how much water is being absorbed. A small rock will not absorb very much, while large rocks will show a much more visible difference in how much water is absorbed.
For completely accurate results, try to make the total sizes of the sample constant. So, the large, medium, small, and fine grade sample will have different particle sizes, but the total volume should be about the same for all.
I hope that helped! Good luck with your project!
From what I can tell, the particle size should be categorized as 'large, medium, small, or fine'. So, basically, the particle size will be a repeating unit in a sample. The way we did it in school was to use a small hammer to break the rock apart. If what comes off is powdery, it would be 'fine'. If it makes more sense to think of it this way, salt has a fine/small particle size, although rock salt can be any size, but the basic unit in any size will still be one grain of salt. Although, don't use salt in your experiment, that's another way to think of it.
Try a wide variety of particle size to get better results. Also, since the variables in this experiment are qualitative, and not quantitative, the samples will most likely be compared against each other. A 'large' particle size may not necessarily be large, but it will be larger than a 'medium' or 'small' or 'fine' particle.
Also, when you crush the samples, keep in mind that the smaller you make your samples, the harder it will be to tell how much water is being absorbed. A small rock will not absorb very much, while large rocks will show a much more visible difference in how much water is absorbed.
For completely accurate results, try to make the total sizes of the sample constant. So, the large, medium, small, and fine grade sample will have different particle sizes, but the total volume should be about the same for all.
I hope that helped! Good luck with your project!