A Primer for Sampling Solids, Liquids, and Gases Based on the Seven Sampling Errors of Pierre Gy

How does a marble manufacturer know that the color will be consistent throughout the products being made? How can you tell if liquid at the bottom of a container is the same consistency as at the top? How does a pellet manufacturer know if the pellets are consistently the same size? How does a chemical manufacturer know if the percent purity in a sample is representative of the whole batch? These and similar questions are answered in A Primer for Sampling Solids, Liquids, and Gases: Based on the Seven Sampling Errors of Pierre Gy. Author Patricia L. Smith illustrates what to look for in sampling devices and procedures to obtain correct samples from bulk materials. She gives sampling guidelines that can be applied immediately and shows how to analyze protocols to uncover sampling problems.

Preface; Foreword by Francis F. Pitard; List of terms and symbols; 1. Some views of sampling; 2. The material: sampling and material variation; 3. The tools and techniques: sampling, sample collection, and sample handling; 4. The process: sampling and process variation; 5. A strategy: putting theory into practice; Appendix A. Introduction to Gy's seven sampling errors; Appendix B. The variance of the fundamental error; Appendix C. Obtaining a sequential random sample; Appendix D. Calculation of the Variogram; Appendix E. Experiments; Appendix F. Sampling safely; References; Index.

The ideas of Pierre Gy are here presented in lay terms, allowing concepts and principles of sampling to be easily grasped and applied. Smith conveys Gy's intuitive meaning while preserving his original ideas.