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Soil aggregate, plasticity, and classification 7 substitution and broken continuity of structures result in a net negative charge at the faces of the clay particles. (There are also some positive charges at the edges of these particles.) To balance the negative charge, the clay particles attract positively charged ions from salts in their pore water. These are referred to as exchangeable ions. Some are more strongly attracted than others, and the cations can be arranged in a series in terms of their affinity for attraction as follows: AP* > Ca* > Mg" > NH} > K* > Ht > Na* > Lit This series indicates that, for example, Al™* ions, can replace Ca” ions, and Ca** ions can replace Na* ions. The process is called cation exchange. For example, Nagy +CaCh + Cag, +NaCl Cation exchange capacity (CEC) of a clay is defined as the amount of exchangeable ions, expressed in milliequivalents, per 100g of dry clay. Table 1.2 gives the cation exchange capacity of some clays. 14 Nature of water in clay ‘The presence of exchangeable cations on the surface of clay particles was discussed in the preceding section. Some salt precipitates (cations in excess of the exchangeable ions and their associated anions) are also present on the surface of dry clay particles. When water is added to clay, these cations and anions float around the clay particles (Figure 1.5). lon concentration Distance from surface of clay particle Figure 1.5 Diffuse double layer. 8 Soil aggregate, plasticity, and classification Oxygen © Dipole Hydrogen OO Hitone @ oe Figure 1.6 Dipolar nature of water At this point, it must be pointed out that warer molecules are dipolar, since the hydrogen atoms are not symmetrically arranged around the oxygen atoms (Figure 1.6a). This means that a molecule of water is like a rod with Positive and negative charges at opposite ends (Figure 1.66). There are three general mechanisms by which these dipolar water molecules, or dipoles, can be electrically attracted toward the surface of the clay particles (Figuce 1.7) Figure 1.7 Dipolar wator molecules in difese double layer, Soil aggregate, plasticity, and classification 9 1) Attraction herween the negatively charged faces of clay particles and the tngsisine ends of dipoles. 'b) Attraction between cations in the double layer and the negatively tharged ends of dipoles. The cations are in turn attracted by the nega~ tively charged faces of clay particles. ) Sharing of the hydrogen atoms in the water molecules by hydrogen bonding between the oxygen atoms in the clay particles and the oxygen atoms in the water molecules. ‘The electrically attracted water that surrounds the clay particles is known. double-layer water. The plastic property of clayey soils is due to the tence of double-layer water. Thicknesses of double-layer water for typ-

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