watts. After ashing, the inorganic residue was transferred back into the (C) 

 vials. The transfer was facilitated by adding 0.1 ml of ultra-pure concentrated 

 HNO3 to the teflon beaker and slowly picking up the inorganic residue into the 

 drop of HNOo as it was rolled around the inside of the beaker. The HNO3 does 

 not wet the inside of the beaker and can be quantitatively transferred into the 

 polyvial. The (C) vials were capped and allowed to stand at room temperature 

 for several days to insure dissolution of the particulate residue. One ml of 

 demineralized water was added to the (C) vials after the dissolution period. The 

 final acid concentration in the (C) vials was approximately 1 .6 N in HNO^. All 

 three vial solutions (A, B and C) were then analyzed for their Cu content. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Three of the (A) vial solutions were monitored for increases in Cu content 

 during the first 15 hours of the extraction process. This data is plotted in 

 Figure 5-1. It can be seen from Figure 5-1 that the extraction appears to be 

 fairly rapid, and approaches a constant value at 15 hours. This particular data 

 was the major reason for selecting a two-day elution time for the rest of the 

 worms processed. 



0.6 



0.4 — 



CJ> 

 < 



0.02 — 



10 20 



minutes 



5 6 



hours 



TIME 



Figure 5-1. Extraction of Cu from Neanthes arenaceodentata 

 with 5 percent HNO3 as function of time. 



64 



