ABSTRACT
Junge and Israel, among others, have stressed the importance of measuring the composition of aerosols, especially as a function of their size, in order to evaluate the sources of atmospheric aerosols, the atmospheric transport and removal reactions of aerosols, and the aerosol effects on man and the environment. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) can play a key role in the study of atmospheric aerosols because of its capability of detecting a large number of the inorganic constituents. The applications of NAA to the determination of trace elements in aerosols have been widely recognized and utilized. Developments in pneumatic sample transfer systems, rapid radiochemical procedures following neutron activation, techniques for instrumental neutron activation analysis, and computerization of the analysis calculations have made NAA a useful, rapid, highly accurate, sensitive, multi-element technique. Many radionuclides can be formed in a neutron irradiation, and these must be separated in some manner for quantitative analysis.
