[TowerTalk] Bentonite? (longish)

[Hsu, Aaron]

> Guy Atkins wrote...
> 
> From: 	Guy Atkins[SMTP:4nradio@accessone.com]
> Reply To: 	Guy Atkins
> Sent: 	Wednesday, October 07, 1998 1:19 PM
> To: 	antennas@qth.net
> Subject: 	[Antennas] Sources for Bentonite?
> 
> Can anyone tell me the kind of store or supply house where I might find
> the
> mineral bentonite, used to enhance ground conductivity (i.e. around ground
> rods)? Some years ago I visited a refining plant in Wyoming where
> bentonite
> is mined, and once brought back 30-50 lbs. of it (I was given a torn bag
> of
> it for free). Now I'm in need of more bentonite, but I don't plan a trip
> to
> Wyoming any time soon!
> 
> This is excellent stuff: very conductive, non-corrosive to ground rods,
> and
> swells to make an extremely tight fit between the earth and the ground
> rod(s) in an antenna system. Now, if I can only find some more of it! Any
> suggestions? Thanks.
> 
> 
> OK, this message intrigued me and I wondered, "what's Bentonite?"  A
> search on HOTBOT (http://www.hotbot.com) came up with over 5000 hits.
> Going through the first few yielded info and suppliers.  Canadian Clay
> Products, Inc. had the specific answer I was looking for...what is it?
> The description is at the bottom.
> 
> Most of the world's Bentonite comes from Wyoming and So Dakota.  I found
> several uses for it - land fill, "Galvanic Anode Cathodic Protection" for
> guy wires, intestinal tract cleansing, gound sealing and grout, waste
> water treatment, livestock feed additive, beer and wine clairifier (during
> brewing/aging), drilling mud, geosynthetics, and many more.  Is there
> anything this stuff doesn't do?
> 
> ---------------
> from Canadian Clay Products, Inc. website...
> 
> What is Bentonite?
> Bentonite is a clay mineral which is largely composed of montmorillonite,
> which is mainly a hydrous aluminum silicate. It is a highly colloidal and
> plastic clay with the unique characteristic of swelling to several times
> its original volume when placed in water. Bentonite was formed from
> volcanic ash deposited in an ancient sea, and modified by geological
> process into the present Sodium Bentonite.  The Bentonites were calculated
> to have accumulated between 74.5 and 70 million years ago. At that time,
> the Wilcox area was the center of a huge shallow inland sea which
> stretched from the Arctic Ocean to present day Mexico and was at least
> 1600 kilometers wide.
> 
> Bentonite has been called the clay of a thousand uses. Sodium Bentonite is
> noted for its affinity for water which gives it tremendous selling
> properties. Soduim Bentonite contains exchangeable sodium cations. When
> dispersed in water it breaks down into small plate-like particles
> negatively charged on the surface, positively charged on the edges. This
> unique ion exchange is responsible for the binding action which takes
> place. Bentonite's small plate-like particles provide a tremendous
> potential for surface area. It forms thixotropic gels with water even when
> the amount of Bentonite in such gels is relatively small. These
> characteristics give Bentonite an enormous range of potential uses.
> -------------------------
> 
> ...and it does seem to have an ENORMOUS range of uses!  Interesting stuff.
> 
>   - Aaron Hsu
>     athsu@unistudios.com
>     dae@pacbell.net
>     No-QRO Int'l #1,000,006
> 
> 
> 

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