(1) Percentage of solids by weight - Island shot samples show

a much higher percentage of solids than do barge shots, with Shot 1
samples having a higher percentage than Shot 3.

No quantitative corre~

lations based on per cent solids can be made because of the variable
volume of water.

(2) pH = Island shot samples had the high pH characteristic
of suspensions of alkaline earth hydrcxides. CaO or Ca(OH)» was present

in the fallout as a product of the pyrolyzation of CaCO3, from the
island coral which had been drawn up into the fireball. The fallout
samples from the island shots consisting of both solid and liquid usually

contained enough of the hydroxide +o maintain a solid-liquid equilibrium,

The pH of the liquid from barge shots was fairly close to the pH of sea
water itself.

(3) Gamma Activity Fractionation ~ Where the solids were pres-

ent in large percentages (island shots), most of the gamma activity was
found in the solid fraction. On the other hand, for barge shots most of
the activity was in the ionic fraction.

It should be noted that for every cample treated (both island
and barge shots) the liquid fraction itself was 96.1 to 97.5 per cent
ionic.

The constancy of this figure suggests that the material held by

the filter membrane was not colloidal since the percentage of colloids
in the liquid samples should depend on when the samples were treated and

should also vary from sample to sample ard shot to shot. It is more
likely that a constant percentage of the liquid activity is adsorbed by
the membrane. Whatever constituted the so-called colloidal fraction,

it. was never very important in the samples as analyzed, for the gamma
activity in this fraction was never higher than 2.4 per cent of the total

sample. The small percentage found, however, does not necessarily mean
that there was originally such small amounts of gamma activity associated

with a colloidal fraction in the fallout itself.

colloid

Disappearance of a

which may have occurred originally in the fallout could be

explained by:

either (1) agglomeration of colloidal particles with time

in the presence of rather high concentrations of electrolyte, or (2)
adsorption of colloidal particles on crystalline materials or on the walls
of the sample bottle. The centrifugation separation would not distinguish
between particles which were large enough to settle in a centrifugal field
and colloidal-sized particles which were associated with crystalline
solids. A very early collection and analysis of liquid fallout material
for detonations which might produce a liquid phase fallout would serve

to determine whether colloidal particles are present and whether they do
indeed agglomerate at appreciable rates. In terms of particle size, the
colloid cannot be disregarded in estimating contamination potential of
the fallout unless it can be conclusively shown that they do not exist at
the time the fallout contacts a surface.
302.202

Gamma Decay of Physical State Fractions

Decay for the three fractions and the original slurry are given
in Figs. 3.1 through 3.4 for some of the semples separated. To aid in

the comparison of the fractions for a given sample, all counts were normalized to.1000 at the earliest possible time. Where a decay curve was

36

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