If the mass passing through any sieve after one minute of hand agitation exceeds 0.5% of the original mass, the sieving is not adequate.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not specified
• D. Sometimes

Answer: (A)

In sieve analysis, you standardize how long you agitate the sample by hand to separate the aggregates by size. After one minute of hand agitation, the amount that passes through any given sieve must not exceed 0.5% of the original sample mass. This small allowance keeps the test measurements consistent and prevents excessive breakdown of particles during the manual shaking from skewing the results. If more than 0.5% passes, the sieving is considered not adequate because the method would be producing unreliable, non-reproducible gradation data.