Lesson 7.05 Soil Types Lab

• Introduction
• Task

Introduction

As you have learned in previous lessons, there are many different types and orders of soils. These types are determined by soil particle size and the percentage of the soil particle sizes that makeup a particular soil. Soil particles come in

• sand,
• silt, and
• clay.

Sand particles are the largest and clay particles are the smallest with silt particles falling in between. Porosity is the amount of space in a give volume of soil. As particle sizes decreases, the porosity of the soil increases. Permeability is the ability of the soil to allow water to pass through it. Permeability is inversely proportional to soil porosity. As soil porosity increases, soil permeability decreases. In this virtual lab, you will be calculating the porosity and permeability of different soil types by pouring water through a fixed volume of each soil. This information can be used to make predictions about which soils will and will not be good for growing plants.