Introduction

Porosity is basically is the percentage of the rock and soil that is void of material .Thus, its
shows single phase of the amount of space available to fluid within a specific body of
medium. Porosity of soil depends on several factors including packing density, particle size
distribution, shape, cementing. Soils are made up of particles of rock and the spaces between
particles.
The porosity of soil indicates how much of its volume is open space. This can be
estimated rather accurately by measuring the amount of water it can hold. The permeability of
soil indicates how easily water can move through it. It can be estimated by timing how
quickly water flows through it .Physical characteristics of soil particles, such as size and
shape, can influence both the porosity and the permeability of soils. Soils that are made up of
coarse-materials, such as sand or gravel, tend to have large open spaces that can fill with
water. These large open spaces allow water to travel much faster than through fine-grained
materials such as clay.
Fine-grained materials may be able to hold a great deal of water, but may transmit very
little of it due to the lack of large open spaces between the grains .Both porosity and
permeability are very important in relation to groundwater because they determine how much
and how quickly water moves through it into the pores.
A soil with high porosity and many small pores can hold a lot of water, but it takes longer
for the water to enter all the pores. This means that when a soil has higher porosity it has
lower permeability. A soil's porosity and permeability are important to many people. Farmers
must be aware of these soil conditions so they can determine the best way to grow crops.
Builders also consider these conditions in the area they plan to build. Environmentalists are
concerned with porosity and permeability when there is a risk that a pollutant might be
introduced into the groundwater supply.

Objective
a) To determine the porosity of three type of soil sample.
b) To predict which soil materials are more porous and permeable

Apparatus:
1. 3 piece of 50 ml Beaker

2. 2 piece of 50 ml Measuring Cylinder

Material:
1. Aluminum foil
2. Soil sample from 3 different places
Equipment:
1. Oven
Procedure:
1. Soil samples from 3 different locations were collected.
2. Each of the soil samples were labeled as sample 1, sample 2, and Mardi.
3. The small rock fragment, grass and other unrelated materials was
removed from the soil samples.
4. The aluminum foil was shaped as 3 small boxes to be filled by the
samples.
5. The soil samples were placed on the shaped aluminum foils.
6. The samples were placed in the oven at the temperature of 105C for 24
hours.
7. The samples were taken from the oven and broke into small pieces.
8. Sample 1, 2 and MARDI was placed in 3 different 50ml beakers.

Mard
i

9. Distilled water poured into 50 ml measuring cylinder.

10.The initial volume of distilled water was recorded.
11.Distilled water was slowly poured beaker until the soil samples saturated
with water.
12.The final volume of distilled water was recorded.
13.The porosity for each sample was calculated using the following equation:
Porosity = (Amount of water added to sample Total sample volume) x
100
Results:
Volume of sample/ml
Initial volume of
water/ml
Final volume of
water/ml
Difference in
volume/ml
Porosity/%

Sample 1
50
50

Sample 2
50
50

Mardi
50
50

27

24

26

23

26

24

46

52

48