Soil Water

Experiment!!!

Soil Physical
Properties: Texture
and Density

DIRECTIONS FOR THE LAB

REPORT OUTLINE:
1. The lab report outline should be based on the directions given in Lab
Report Guidelines on Bb, with Introduction Methods Results Discussion
Conclusions.
2. The outline needs to be detailed. There must be a line in the outline
corresponding to every paragraph in the full lab report. The text for
each element of the outline should be a phrase describing what that
paragraph will contain.
For example, discussion of why texture by feel results may have
differed from the texture by hydrometer results.
3. The outline must contain all figures and tables complete with table
headings and figure captions, figure legends, and figure axes
appropriately labeled.
4. The lab report outline will be graded on the following criteria:
- layout (spacing, margins)
- appropriate font
- appropriate descriptions for what each paragraph will contain
- appropriate tables and figures, table and figure quality, and data
quality.

Soil Texture/ Textural Class

A grouping

of soil textural units based on

the relative proportions of the various soil
seperates (sand, silt and clay).
Examples:
sand, loamy sand, silt loam, silty clay, clay,
etc.

Density

Density equals mass divided by volume

=m/v (g/cm3) or (g/mL)
1cm3=1mL
Particle Density and Bulk Density
Particle Density - mass per unit volume of the soil
particles (2.65g/cm3)
Bulk Density mass of dry soil per unit of bulk soil
volume, including air space. Bulk volume obtained
before drying (105oC)
Porosity- percentage of the soil occupied by air or water
(pore space)

Today in Lab
We

are accurately determining these

properties (texture and density and
porosity)

AND.Second
Soil

round of hand texturing

Water Experiment

Cool Science Equipment for

Today
Soil

Water columns (3 local soils)

Hydrometer measures density of
solution it is in (soil water columns, beer)
Stopwatch!
Soil Core rings (3 local soils)
Balance
Calculator!
Beer and Coke!

Part 1: Fundamentals!
Stokes

Law
V=(d2g(Ds-Df))/(18)
George Stokes
Contemporary of Maxwell
(famous physicist,
electromagnetic theory)
and Kelvin

Maxwells Demon

Back to Stokes Law

time=

(distance of fall)/(Diameter 2 k)

You

calculate the time it takes the

particles to fall out by measuring the
distance they will fall, using given k and
the appropriate particle size

Lets

Do page 2-4 Together.

Calculations on Board

DEMOS!

Questions?

Now use Hydrometer Now

This

will help you calculate HOW MUCH sand

fell out, or silt, or clay.

Particles

in solution change density (as seen in

aquariums and beer)

A hydrometer measures the weight or "gravity"

of a fixed quantity of liquid and compares it to
what that same volume of water would weigh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw66Al8t9pY

Local Soils
Chehalis
Woodburn
Bashaw

Sand, silt,
and clay in
suspension

Increasing time

Silt and clay

in suspension

Clay in
suspension

Part 2: Bulk Density

Follow

procedure in your lab using your

soil core rings and calculate the bulk
density for each Local Soil

Remember

Bulk Density (Db) is the density

of the soil, including void spaces

Part 3: Porosity
Calculations:
Porosity

is a percentage of pore space to total

space the soil takes up
%PS = 100(1-(Db/Dp))
Diagnostic graph showing relationship between
bulk density and porosity (in class)
Page 2-13 together
DO NOT FORGET GRAPH ON PAGE
2-14, #3.

Part 4: Texturing By Hand

New

method, still ribboning but new way

of calculating sand
Can use either previous method, or try
new.
Compare ALL soils!
Dont forget page 2-17

Participation Points
Clean

up after yourself.
Be here
Get lab initialed by me for full points
- I will take off up to 7 points for not getting
your pages initialed!!!