We sample for radium in the water by using manganese fiber. This is acrylic fiber which we have coated with the element manganese. We first pump water quickly into one of twenty fifty-gallon plastic barrels. Then, as we travel to the next station, we submerge a smaller and slower pump through a hole in the top of the barrel into the water inside. The pump is connected to a hose, which is connected to a plastic canister. Inside the canister is the manganese fiber. When the pump is turned on, water travels up the hose, into one end of the canister, over the maganese fiber, out the other end of the canister, and over the side of the boat. Even though the water leaves the boat, the radium that was in the water attaches to the maganese fiber.

We then measure the radium that was in the water by measuring how much radium the water left behind on the manganese fiber. In order to measure the radium, we need to use a special machine called a RaDeCC. RaDeCC stands for radium delayed coincidence counter. The RaDeCC is located inside the ship in one of the labs. It will always have samples running on it, twenty four hours a day, while we are on the trip, because we will be taking water samples twenty four hours a day. We have to count the radium within a few days of taking the sample, because it can dissappear by a process called radioactive decay. During radioactive decay an element turns into another element.

For more on the structure of atoms visit:

           http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/3-atoms.htm

For more on radioactive decay visit:

           http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/radiation_types_body.html