The radiolysis of gaseous C& with 4 MeV electrons gives much larger yields of C2H4 than previously reported, in addition to significant amounts of C2H2. The effects of scavengers, and of pressure and dose-rate changes, indicate the reaction of CH2 with C€& to form C2HZ which is either collisionally deactivated or decomposes to form (22% or C2H2. The higher yields of these products at low conversions, low pressures and high dose rates is compared with gas-discharge work.

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Small portions of sea water were irradiated with slow neutrons in a Harwell Pile and the radioactivity from the gold-198 produced was compared with that from a standard gold solution. The gold contents found depended on the distance from the shore that the samples were taken, and varied from about 400 p g per cubic metre for English coastal water to about 15 pg per cubic metre for water from the north-w-estern limit of the Bay of Biscay.

By means of the isotope-dilution technique with strontium-89, the strontium content of a sample of North Atlantic sea water was found to be 8.0 f 0.1 mg per litre. By means of the radioactivation technique with strontium-89, the strontium content found was 8.0 mg per litre, whereas with strontium-87 it was 8.1 f 0.3 mg per litre. When the isotope-dilution technique with strontium-84 and strontium-88 was used, the strontium content found was 8.1 f 0.1 mg per litre.

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