Enrichment of Tritium by Thermal Diffusion and Measurement of Dated Antarctic Snow Samples

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Buttlar, H. v., Wiik, B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1965
• Subjects: Antarctic; Geiger; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.149.3690.1371; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.149.3690.1371

A thermal diffusion column allows a recovery of 99 ± 1 percent of the tritium originally contained in about 50 liters at standard temperature and pressure of hydrogen gas in a final volume of 3.8 liters over a 2-day period. After a tenfold enrichment by electrolysis, a tritium concentration of 10 -18 with an experimental error of a few percent may be measured with a low-level Geiger counter. The results on some well-dated Antarctic snow samples (between 1941 and 1953) are in general agreement with published data.