Neutron' activation analysis for mercury
Ne.utron activation analysis has been applied to the determination of trace quantities. of mercury in biological materialsl-8, high-purity metalsQ@, meteorites11 and rock9~12J3. Since the previous methods mostly have involved several complicated ,.chemical separations before mercury activities can be measured, the procedures are tedious and time-consuming.
.This tirork was undertaken in order to develop a neutron activation method of analysis for mercury which-would be generally applicable to a variety of samples. Rice, dried cuttlefish and rock were chosen as representatives. These materials were neutronirradiated and induced mercury activities were separated by a single-step anion exchange based on the selective adsorption of mercury on DEAE in thiocyanate media. Mercury activities thus obtained are sufficiently pure to allow direct gross y-activity measurement. : E@erimental Irradiation. About 0.4-0.5 g of rice,' dried cuttlefish or powdered rock was 'weighed '.' ;'. .I '~'Tlle U.S. Geological Survey Siiicate Rock Stanclarcl~4: G-z =: Westerly Granite (from Sullivan Qdnrry, Braclford,, lZl~oclc Island). '. IJ Based on the final resu1t.s not on $hc co&in8 data.