Hello; In recent decade the surface NMR method for exploring groundwater has been developed. Technically, this is done by measuring the precessing frequency of proton of hydrogen nucleus when an external magnetic field is applied. So what if anyone tries to measure the precession frequency of other nucleus like Carbon (for coal exploration) or other nuclei for surface exploring of buried deposits?
Thanks in advance.
What you propose does make sense in principle, but is impossible in practice due to severe problems with sensitivity. Even the proton-based water prospecting that you mention is not easy - just on the edge of current technological possibilities. Now consider that the expected signal-to-noise ratio for 13C (the only stable isotope of carbon that has spin) would be about five orders of magnitude smaller than for 1H, even over a very carbon-rich deposit. So far, nobody was able to detect such a weak signal against the background of noise coming from both the environments and the detection gear. The proton signals, though painfully weak, are the only ones that come anywhere close to being detectable.
What you propose does make sense in principle, but is impossible in practice due to severe problems with sensitivity. Even the proton-based water prospecting that you mention is not easy - just on the edge of current technological possibilities. Now consider that the expected signal-to-noise ratio for 13C (the only stable isotope of carbon that has spin) would be about five orders of magnitude smaller than for 1H, even over a very carbon-rich deposit. So far, nobody was able to detect such a weak signal against the background of noise coming from both the environments and the detection gear. The proton signals, though painfully weak, are the only ones that come anywhere close to being detectable.
You can in theory trade lack of sensitivity with integration time - so you could pick up the signals eventually. But if your figure of 100,000 times weaker is correct it could take days per single test! Would increasing the field strength by pulsing it help?
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