Chapter 4.7, Problem 4.130ACI

Permeability of sandstone during weathering. Refer to the Geographical Analysis (Vol. 42, 2010) study of the decay properties of sandstone when exposed to the weather, Exercise 2.69 (p. 81). Recall that blocks of sandstone were cut into 300 equal-sized slices, and the slices were randomly divided into three groups of 100 slices each. Slices in Group A were not exposed to any type of weathering; slices in Group B were repeatedly sprayed with a 10% salt solution (to simulate wetting by driven rain) under temperate conditions; and, slices in Group C were soaked in a 10% salt solution and then dried (to simulate blocks of sandstone exposed during a wet winter and dried during a hot summer). All sandstone slices were then tested for permeability, measured in milliDarcies (mD). The data for the study (simulated) are saved in the accompanying file. Is it plausible to assume that the permeability measurements in any of the three experimental groups are approximately normally distributed?