SUMMARY Relative gas diffusivity, air permeability and hydraulic conductivity were measured in undisturbed soil cores from tillage and traffic experiments. Continuity indices were taken as the quotient of relative diffusivity and air‐filled porosity, and of air permeability and air‐filled porosity (and the square of air‐filled porosity). These were applied to individual measurements or to treatment means. More general continuity indices were derived from the changes in flow or diffusion with porosity, where the variations in porosity were due to both field variability and applied changes of water potential. These indices were the exponent in the relationship between relative diffusivity and air‐filled porosity and the slope of log–log plots of air permeability and air‐filled porosity or hydraulic conductivity and degree of saturation. Some physical significance was attached to the exponents by comparison with models of soil porosity. Positive intercepts of the relative diffusivity or air permeability plots on the air‐filled porosity axes were taken as porosities blocked to gas movement. Continuity indices and flow measurements showed differences between tillage and traffic treatments which did not necessarily reflect differences in bulk density. Intrinsic permeability was better estimated from air permeability than from unsaturated hydraulic conductivity.

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The encapsulation of one material by another, to form core-shell particles (microcapsules), has many applications, principally the containment, protection, and distribution of an active material. This work describes the development of core-shell particles with silicone oil cores and solid silica-like shells of controlled thickness. Oligomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) emulsions are employed as the core templates for the formation of the solid shells. The core templates are prepared by the surfactant-free, condensation polymerization of diethoxydimethylsilane (DEODMS) that leads to the formation of monodisperse silicone oil/water emulsions. Solid silica-like, composite shells were formed through condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and DEODMS onto the core templates. The shell thickness may be controlled by manipulation of relative TEOS and DEODMS concentrations or by quenching the shell development step. It is possible to incorporate a dye into the core prior to shell formation, which does not seem to permeate the shell. The coated PDMS particles were subjected to a controlled compression stress using a micromanipulation technique. The capsule breaking force was found to be proportional to the shell thickness, as quantified using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) ultramicrotomy.

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