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Science project idea on the composition of soil.
Composition of Soil- Science Project Idea
Of what is soil composed?Examine a handful of dry soil.Do you find any particles of sand in it?What is sand?Examine a very small amount of it with a magnifying glass or microscope.What do you find?Sometimes soils have so many small pieces of rock that they are called gravelly soils or sandy soils.What do you suspect is the origin of the sand or gravel?What is the color of soil?Where have you ever seen soil that is very dark in color?Can you suggest a possible explanation for this color?
Science Experiment on Composition of Soil Composition of Soil Experiment Heat some soil from a flower pot in a crucible or in a test tube if you have no crucible.What change in color appears first?Of what does the odor that is given off remind you?What change in color occurs after continued heating?The material which remains after continued burning is called mineral matter.From your observations what do you consider to be the composition of the soil, and from what do you think it has been formed? Plants cannot grow unless air and water are present in the soil.A good soil, therefore, consists of decomposed rock material, 60 to 05 per cent of its weight, together with humus, bacteria, air, and moisture.The materials which make up soils may be classed as follows: (a) Humus, or vegetable mold. (b) Clay, made up of finely powdered rock.The particles are less than one ten-thousandth of an inch in diameter.When dry, clay is powdery; when wet, it is sticky. (c) Silt, consisting of particles somewhat coarser than clay.When moist it becomes a soft mud and usually crumbles when it is dry. (d) Sand, made of rock fragments. (e) Gravel, composed of large pieces of rock fragments. Ordinary soils are usually made up of a mixture of clay, sand, silt, and humus.Since moisture is so necessary to plants, the power of a soil to take up and hold water is a very important characteristic of it.
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