PNNL

Abstract

Composite Sampling: It is simple, elegant, yet not in widespread use. We hope that the articles in this special issue will help to change that latter situation. In general the idea of compositing a sample in order to save expensive testing is appealing. The basic recipe calls for collecting a number of physical samples and combining or compositing an amount from each sample. The resulting composite sample is then sent to the laboratory for analysis. Since each composite sample sent to the lab is an amalgam of several different samples, it can be used to find the average of some characteristic or to indicate whether the component individual samples must be analyzed.