By Kimberly Flessner
Objective: The students will be given several types of soil to test how water permeable each type of soil is.
Materials:
- 3 tin cans with the bottoms cut out
- fine screening
- different types of soil
- gravel
- sand
- clay
- black dirt
- duct tape or some other type of clamp
- 6 - 250 mL beakers
- magnifying glass
- plain white paper
Procedure:
- Each group of students should collect 3 pieces of plain white paper and samples of three different types of soil. Place each types of soil on a piece of paper and look at the texture and color of the soil. Record this information in a data table.
- After observing the three soil types each student should make a prediction of which the water will run through the fastest to the slowest.
- Prepare each of the three cans by duct taping the fine screening to one of the open ends of the can.
- Into each of the three cans place about 2 inches of the three different types of soil.
- Holding one of the cans with soil in to over a 250 mL beaker pour 200 mL of water into the soil and collect how much water will run through it in 1 minute. Then after 5 minutes see how much water has moved through the soil.
- Repeat with the other 2 types of soil.
Conclusion:
- How did your predictions compare with the results?
- Which of these soils would be the best to use of drainage material?
- How does the texture of the soil compare to its water permeability?
- Do you think your results would change if you packed the soil into the can?
Soil Type | Soil Texture and Color | Predicted Permeability | Amount of water after 1 minute | Amount of water after 5 minutes |