Question

If the plasticity index of a soil is 10 then the soil can be classified as ?

Answer 1

If the plasticity index of a soil is 10 then the soil can be classified as medium plastic.

Plasticity Index

The plasticity index measures the plasticity of the soil. It denotes the amount of moisture, that the soil particles posses in a plastic state while changing from semisolid state to liquid state. It is calculated by the difference of liquid limit and plastic limit of a soil.  

Plasticity (PI) = Liquid limit (LL) - Plastic limit (PL).

It is actually a measure of the amount of clay present in the soil. It helps to identify the characteristics of various soils.

Classification of soil based on plasticity index

Plasticity index in %     Soil type             Degree of plasticity

1.   0                                Sand                   Non-plastic

2.  < 7                              Silt                      Low plastic

3. 7 - 17                           Silt clay               Medium plastic

4. > 17                              clay                     High plastic

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

If the plasticity index of a soil is 10 then the soil is classified as medium plastic.

Now the question arises what is plasticity index. Plasticity index of the soil is the difference between the moisture content of the soil between the liquid and plastic limits which is expressed in percentage. Depending on the quality of the soil the soil can be broadly classified into solid, semi-solid, plastic and liquid. This depends on the water content of the soil.