Specific surface captures the combined effects of particle size and slenderness in a measurement that is independent and complementary to grain-size distribution. There are various methods to measure specific surface, including gas adsorption in dry conditions and selective molecular absorption in aqueous suspensions. The measurement procedure can have an important effect on measured values, yet such sensitivity is informative in itself. The amount of surface in a soil mass determines the balance between surface-related forces and gravimetric–skeletal forces acting on a soil particle, affects fabric formation, supports rich energy coupling mechanisms, governs conduction, and controls sorption and retardation during chemical diffusion.Key words: specific surface, surface area, methylene blue, gas adsorption, fabric, Atterberg limits, grain-size distribution.

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We have investigated the role of doping and paramagnetic states on the electronic transport of networks assembled from freestanding Si nanocrystals (Si-NCs). Electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) studies on Si-NCs films, which show a strong increase of conductivity with doping of individual Si-NCs, reveal that P donors and Si dangling bonds contribute to dark conductivity via spin-dependent hopping, whereas in photoconductivity, these states act as spin-dependent recombination centers of photogenerated electrons and holes. Comparison between EDMR and conventional electron paramagnetic resonance shows that different subsets of P-doped nanocrystals contribute to the different transport processes.