Laser Diffraction
Definition
An instrumental method where a dispersed sample passes through a laser beam and the angular diffraction pattern is inverted to produce a particle-size distribution. Instruments such as the Malvern Mastersizer can resolve distributions from below 0.1 micrometres to 3500 micrometres in a single run.
Related terms
- Hydrometer Method
- A sedimentation technique that uses Stokes' Law to determine the proportion of silt and clay from the rate at which particles settle...
- Particle-Size Distribution (PSD)
- The proportion by mass of soil particles falling within each size fraction. Expressed as a curve or a table of percentages, and...
- Ribbon Test
- A field method for estimating texture by wetting a small amount of soil and extruding it between thumb and finger. The length...
- Sieve Analysis
- Mechanical separation of soil particles by passing a dried, dispersed sample through a stack of sieves with calibrated apertures from 2 mm...
- Textural Triangle
- A ternary diagram with sand, silt, and clay at the three apices. A point plotted from the measured percentages of those three...
Explained in
- Particle Size and Texture AnalysisAn instrumental method where a dispersed sample passes through a laser beam and the angular diffraction pattern is inverted to produce a particle-size distribu...