MOISTURE DETERMINATION IN CORN BY NEUTRON MODERATION. Final Report

Technical Report · Mon Jul 31 04:00:00 EDT 1961

OSTI ID:4808088

Ballard, L F; Ely, Jr, R L

The neutron moderition technique was successfully applied to the measurement of the moisture content of inorganic media such as soil and molding sand. Since the method essentially measures the hydrogen content per unit volume, it becomes more difficult to apply in organic media. In corn, moisture contents from 10 to 20 per cent by weight are equivalent to hydrogen contents of 47.7 to 50.7 per cent. That is, a 10 per cent moisture range is compressed to a 3 per cent hydrogen range. Nevertheless, it is shown that by packing the corn to the same density each time by putting a known weight into a known volume, the moisture content can be measured to a precision determined by the counting statistics. It is concluded that a 100 mc. RaD--Be neutron source or equivalent can measure the moisture content of corn to a precision of 0.5 per cent at the 67 per cent confidence level in 3 minutes. (auth)

• Research Organization: Research Triangle Inst., Durham, N.C. Isotope Development Lab.
• NSA Number: NSA-16-026900
• OSTI ID: 4808088
• Report Number(s): ORO-485
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BERYLLIUM
CEREALS
CHEMISTRY
COUNTERS
HUMIDITY
LEAD 210
NEUTRON SOURCES
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
SAND
SOILS
STATISTICS