REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES.

Care should be taken to obtain a sample that is truly representative of the liquid to be analyzed. With sewages this is especially important because marked variations in composition occur from hour to hour. Satisfactory samples of some liquids can be obtained only by mixing together several portions collected at different times or at different places—the details as to collection and mixing depending upon local conditions.

PHYSICAL EXAMINATION.

TEMPERATURE.

The temperature of the sample, if taken, shall be taken at the time of collection, and shall be expressed preferably in degrees Centigrade, to the nearest degree, or closer if more precise data are required. The thermophone[[109]] is recommended for obtaining the temperature of water at various depths below the surface.

TURBIDITY.

The turbidity of water is due to suspended matter, such as clay, silt, finely divided organic matter, microscopic organisms, and similar material.

TURBIDITY STANDARD.[[110]]

The standard of turbidity shall be that adopted by the United States Geological Survey, namely, a water which contains 100 parts per million of silica in such a state of fineness that a bright platinum wire 1 millimeter in diameter can just be seen when the center of the wire is 100 millimeters below the surface of the water and the eye of the observer is 1.2 meters above the wire, the observation being made in the middle of the day, in the open air, but not in sunlight, and in a vessel so large that the sides do not shut out the light so as to influence the results. The turbidity of such water is arbitrarily fixed at 100 parts per million.

For preparation of the silica standard dry Pear’s “precipitated fuller’s earth” and sift it through a 200–mesh sieve. One gram of this preparation in 1 liter of distilled water makes a stock suspension which contains 1,000 parts per million of silica and which should have a turbidity of 1,000. Test this suspension, after diluting a portion of it with nine times its volume of distilled water, by the platinum wire method to ascertain if the silica has the necessary degree of fineness and if the suspension has the necessary degree of turbidity. If not, correct by adding more silica or more water as the case demands.[[A]]