GEO101L Earth Science
Module 3 Lab: Soil Porosity and Permeability
Soils are made up of particles of rock, along with the spaces between those particles. Physical characteristics of soil particles, such as size and shape, can influence how water moves through them. Aquifers are underground layers of rock that are capable of storing water. An aquifer is recharged when water filters through the soil levels above it.
In this lab you will investigate the characteristics of known and unknown soil samples. The Lab Kit includes gravel, sand, and top soil samples, and you are to get a local sample from the soil at your home or a potted plant in your house.
This lab will look at the porosity and permeability of these soil samples. Porosity
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In your own words. define porosity.
2. If you were an environmental engineer, where would you recommend placing a drinking water well after learning about soil porosity and permeability? Explain why.
3. Which soil sample that you tested had the greatest risk of transferring harmful chemicals into a drinking water aquifer? Explain why.
Experiment 2: Soil Permeability
Methods to Measure Soil Permeability
Please read through the directions before starting your experiment.
1. Set up apparatus so the plastic funnel is in the graduated cylinder.
2. Place a piece of filter paper in the funnel so that solid material does not flow through. Watch this short movie on how to fold filter paper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or6ex5toLVg
3. Using a beaker, measure 25 mL of your first soil type and place it in the funnel, on top of the filter paper.
4. Using a graduated cylinder, measure 50 mL of water and slowly pour it into the funnel. Let the water percolate through the soil and collect it in the graduated cylinder below. BEGIN TIMING AS SOON AS THE WATER TOUCHES THE SOIL SAMPLE.
6. Continue to time until the water has stopped collecting in the beaker. Record the
Next prepare the third test tube with an accurate measurement of 5ml sodium carbonate once again labelling appropriately.
For the second part of the experiment I cut the cheesecloth into four pieces and folded them so that it was four layers thick. I placed one piece of cheesecloth into the funnel and measured 60mL of soil using the 100mL to help measure the soil and poured that into the funnel. Taking beaker number one I poured the contents into the funnel and let that filter into beaker number five. I used the same technique as above and I repeated the same thing to beakers number two through four and poured them into beakers number six through eight. Once this was done I observed beakers five through eight and wrote down my observations in Table 1.
Pour approximately 50 mL of room-temperature distilled water into the glass beaker by using the estimated volume on the beaker.
7.The air dried filter paper was then placed on the weighing scale and results were recorded
b. Place crushed ice in the beaker so the water level is just below the top of the
XII. Take the 250 ml beaker to your lab bench. Set up a gravity filtration with a plastic funnel, folded wet filter paper, and an Erlenmeyer flask. Pour the content in the 250 ml beaker slowly through the filter paper. Wash the filter paper with deionized water. Dispose of the filtrate in the proper labeled waste container.
Submerge the graduated cylinder in the plastic tub so that it is completely filled with water. Hold the open end of the graduated cylinder and move it vertically upside-down where the open end of the graduated cylinder is still submerged in the plastic tub. Clamp the graduated cylinder the ring stand of the lab table to keep it in place. perforate a hole in the top of the rubber cork for the solution container. Cut a straw the length of about four inches. place the straw inside of the rubber cork hole. Set up your timer for two minutes.
c) Record the amount of substance that dissolved – all, some, a little, or none.
Measure and add 5cm3 of buffer solution using a measuring cylinder with the pH 3 into a test tube using a pipette and place the potato cylinders into the test tube.
Analysis of representative soil samples will also be undertaken to characterise different soil material, for example, pH, particle size, organic matter, potential contaminants and so on.
3.Secure the other end of the tube into the hole located on the rubber stopper
1. Fill the graduated cylinder nearly to the top with water, with a tall glass tube open at both ends (the water level with act as the closed end).
Measure 500ml of tap water in the 500cm3 beaker, then measure 5g of sodium hydrogen carbonate using the 50cm3 beaker and weight scale and place in the beaker of water, using the glass rod to dissolve it into the mixture.
5. Wet the paper with distilled water to hold it in place in the funnel. Transfer all the solution and the precipitate from the beaker using a rubber policeman. Wash the precipitate with two or three 5-mL portions of distilled water. Do this by adding each portion to the beaker in which you did the precipitation to transfer any remaining
Soil compaction is one of the most important aspects behind many projects as it is the base of almost all structures and without a strong base failure will occur. It is known that most engineering properties improve as the density of the soil increases; also the greatest density for a given soil will occur at the optimum moisture content. This is the reason why accurate Proctor Tests are so important. Without them it would be impossible to know whether the soil on a