resins

[spidey65]

Hi, for my project I'm testing different resins and their ability to bind martian soil into bricks. As synthetic resins are capable of hardening permanantly, how do I make sure the chemical makeup of the regolith does not change- or does it?

Thanks

[norman40]

Hi spidey65,

Regolith is a loose layer of dust, soil and broken rock that covers solid rock. If you mix this loose material with a resin you will change the chemical make up of the mixture due to the added resin. But the composition of the regolith itself will not change since the resin components won't react with the regolith.

You might want to post some details about your experiment including the kinds of resins and soil you are working with. This information would be helpful if you have other questions.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

[spidey65]

Hi, thanks for that piece of information. I just wanted to make sure the chemical makeup of the regolith wasn't going to change. Could you provide sources on this topic if you could find any-- proof that the regolith makeup won't change due to the added resin? (besides the added resin of course) I'm planning to use simulant martian regolith, and test epoxy, polyester, and vinyl ester resins. Are these resins okay?

[norman40]

Hello spidey65,

Simulant Martian regolith is a mixture of several metal oxides. The most abundant of these are silicon, iron aluminum and calcium. These metal oxides are stable and not likely to react with the organic compounds in the resins you mentioned.

You might want to research the kinds or reactions common for metal oxides and the kinds of reactions associated with synthetic resins. This should lead you to some sources indicating that the regolith shouldn't react with the resins.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

[spidey65]

Thanks so much!

[spidey65]

Let's say you had a two bricks made from different materials. One is made out of concrete, and one is made out of soil. You wanted to test its radiation properties. As bricks are not flexible objects that can be wrapped around a radiation source, where would you place the brick in the cloud chamber? Would you put it right in front of the radiation source and count the condensation tracks on the other side? Or would you do something else?

In addition will my experiment still be accurate because, the only rays I can test are alpha and beta. These rays can be blocked by almost anything, so am I basing it off how much it can block. Will that determine if it can block other radiation?

moderator note: I've merged this post with your previous posts so the expert who has been helping you will see that you have more questions. If you keep your posts together, that helps the expert see your new questions. Thanks!

[norman40]

Hi spidey65,

I'm assuming that you're working on the project described here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... cles-decay

The chamber in this project is a Petri dish and is fairly small. But you might be able to place a small piece of brick inside the chamber. If so you could proceed as you suggested and count condensation trails for comparison with the number observed without the brick in the chamber.

Another option might be to place the brick piece on top of the chamber and put the radiation source on top of the brick. In this case both the brick and the top of the chamber would be potential radiation barriers. So you'd need a test with the radiation source on top of the chamber (but without the brick) to assess the effect of the chamber top alone.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman