Describe in detail an experiment which will help to find out the moisture in the soil
Answers
Answer:
Materials
One cup of dry soil (Gather this with permission either from your backyard or another outdoor location or from a plant nursery or garden center. If the soil is moist, dry it using an oven, a small baking dish and a cookie sheet following the steps given in the Preparation section.)
Seven identical cups or glasses
Desk, counter or table
Measuring spoons
Water
Sheet of paper
Preparation
If your soil is not completely dry, you will have to remove the moisture. With an adult's help, pour the soil into a small baking dish, place it on a cookie sheet then put the cookie sheet (with dish) in the oven and bake it at low heat (200 degrees Fahrenheit) for two to three hours. This will evaporate the water from your soil. When the soil is dry, carefully remove the cookie sheet and dish from the oven and allow the soil to cool completely.
Place two tablespoons of soil into each of the seven cups or glasses.
Procedure
Line up the cups in a row on a desk, counter or table.
To the far left cup, do not add any water. Into the next cup to its right, add half a teaspoon of water to the soil. To the next cup on the right of that, add one teaspoon of water. And to the next one on the right, add one and a half teaspoons of water. Continue increasing by half a teaspoon the amount of water you add to each cup as you move to the right; you should end up adding three teaspoons of water to the far right cup. How does the soil in each cup look as increasing amounts of water are added?
Now mix the water in with the soil in each cup that includes water. How do the different cups look as you mix in the water?
Place all of the mixed cups on a white sheet of paper. (Placing them on a solid white background will help you compare the colors of the soil in each cup.) Look straight down at the soil in each cup. Which soil is lightest? Which is darkest? Do you see a correlation between how much water you added and how light or dark the soil is?
Now take a tablespoon of each soil sample—starting with the dry soil and working toward the one with the most water—and place the sample on a clean area of the paper. Feel the soil with your fingers. How does each feel? What textures would you expect from each?
Do you think you could use your results to determine the moisture level of other soil samples?
Extra: You could try to quantify the results from this activity by taking a picture of the damp soil in all of your cups, printing the picture out in gray scale and comparing it with a gray-scale color bar (one that has the different amounts of black or white labeled with percentages). When you quantify your results, just how different are the soil samples? Are some much darker or lighter than others?
Extra: In this science activity you only tested one type of soil. Try sampling different areas of your yard or another location (with permission) and, without drying them, compare these new samples both with one another and the soil in the original series of cups. Can you use your original soil series to estimate the moisture content of soil from different places in your yard?
Extra: Try estimating the moisture of soil that is in the same location but on different days. Does soil moisture change with the weather, such as on hot days compared with cool ones and cloudy days compared with those that are sunny? How much does the moisture vary from day to day?
Observations and results
Did you see that the soil became darker as you added water to it?
Soil color can vary depending on the type that is used but, in general, dry soil becomes darker in color when water is added to it. The color of the dry soil depends on what little particles comprise it—specifically what minerals and proteins (organic matter) it contains. When water is added to soil, it can replace the oxygen that is naturally in the soil, and make the soil darker. This means wetter soil will have less oxygen compared with drier soil. When enough water is added, soil can become saturated and the water will start to form a layer on top of it. You may have seen this happen in the cups with the most water added to them. As mentioned earlier, different organisms need soils with different moisture contents. If the soil is too dry, plants, animals and microorganisms that need more water will not survive in it, and the soil may also become hard and compacted. If soil is too wet, however, it will not contain enough oxygen for some organisms to survive in it either.
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Calculate the content of moisture of the soil by subtracting the weight of dry soil from the weight of the moist soil , and then dividing by the weight of the dry soil . Although the measurement is simple , it is important to determine soil moisture content in order to better understand soil characteristics.