2
Properties of Soil
Introduction The lab is important because it teaches us how agriculture and water availability impact our community. It can also teach us that soil is a dynamic natural body having properties derived from the combined effects of climate and biotic activities. It also teaches us that soil comes in different varieties. Texture is also a key to the % of sand, silt, and clay found in it. Lastly, it teaches us that soil nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash levels are important to help maintain healthy plant life (Delgado, Grinyer, Reich, Singh, & Allen, 2016).
The main purpose of this lab was to teach us about how water capacity and agriculture help the soil. For activity one, I predicted that soil sample “A” would be 50% sand, 20% silt, and 30% clay. I made this prediction because the soil sample was collected from an area in my backyard with a large sand pit-type area. For activity two, I predicted that the sand would be the most porous and the clay would be the least, with soil sample “A” in the middle. My reason for this hypothesis was that because the sand is grainy, the water would go through it easily, whereas the clay is denser, so it would take longer for the water to flow through, leaving the soil sample “A” in the middle because it would be a combination of the two types. For activity three, I predicted that soil sample “A” would be more acidic and soil sample “B” would be less acidic. because the
sample was taken from an area with less plant growth and sample “B” from an area with more plant growth. For activity four, I predicted that soil sample “B” would have higher levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash because it was taken from an area where a garden used to be,
