
Experiment help!
Trying to figure out in lab toxicity tests with sediment, liquid mercury chloride, and amphipods. Right now we are in the stage of trying to figure out how to dose the field collected sediment with liquid mercury chloride solutions to reach dry concentrations of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 ppm . At first we were trying to dose 250 g of wet sediment , shown in excel the amount in microliters of our different stock solutions but then when we ran samples through the direct mercury analyzer (DMA-80) we found we were off so then we tried dosing a smaller amount (5 g) and we were still reading way lower mercury amounts on the DMA than what our target concentration was. We spiked sediment in glass beakers, dropping mercury solution in the center and then having to hand mix and fold sediment continuously by hand with plastic spatulas for around 15 mins. I know there could be hotspots where the mercury is clustered in the sample because it wasn’t properly homogenized? At this point I think it has to be related to the mixing method because I believe our numbers are correct , I’m just so lost and any advice or resources anyone has would be greatly appreciated !