User:Gyaredos/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Loss on ignition

The article itself is quite bare in terms of information and lacks sufficient examples of when this technique was used. Another point is I would like to bring up is that the author only has citations in the final paragraph of his or her article which calls the credibility of his whole article into question. More citations are requested.

Choose Your Article:

Loss on ignition: I intend to flesh out the article as a whole by providing more real world examples of how the technique is used such as using loss of ignition to find the ratio of floating sediment to algae in lakes. The other thing I will do for this article is add citations where its needed.

Jurassic: I will add a section about the beginning of mammals in this period.

Limestone: There is currently only a health and safety section on limestone from the USA's perspective and I would like to add other nations views to this article as well. I would also like to add a section talking about the unique limestone geology in Canada as well.

Procedure
There are many ways to properly utilize loss on ignition for scientific research. A soil sample left overnight in a drying oven at 100 degrees Celsius would have its water content completely evapourated by morining. This could allow the researchers to determine the amount of water initially in the soil sample and its porosity by comparing the change in weight of the sample before and after the evaporation. This new weight of the sample is called the dry weight and its previous weight is called the wet weight. A general procedure of how to perform a loss on ignition is as follows :


 * 1) Weigh the empty crucible that the sample is to be placed in and record its weight in a lab book.
 * 2) Place the sample in the empty crucible and weight the crucible again with the sample in it. The new weight minus the empty crucible weight is the sample’s wet weight.
 * 3) Place the sample in the drying oven or blast furnace as required.
 * 4) Set the oven or furnace to the desired temperature. If the researcher wants to find the dry weight of the soil then the furnace would need to be 100 degrees Celsius.
 * 5) Leave the sample in the furnace for the desired length of time. If the researcher wanted to know the sample's dry weight and is using a furnace set at 100 degrees Celsius, then the researcher would usually leave the furnace on overnight.
 * 6) Open the oven but also back away from it at the same time since the hot air escaping from the furnace can burn bare skin.
 * 7) Allow the oven and sample to cool down before removing the sample from the oven.
 * 8) Weigh the crucible with the sample again. Subtract the empty crucible weight from this new weight and that is the sample’s dry weight.