Laboratory Exercise No.

1 Determination of Porosity and Apparent Specific Gravity of the Soil

Introduction

Intelligent irrigation practices, based on knowledge of soil and water relationship are a means to obtain
the best use of water available for farms.

Some basic physical properties of soil such as porosity and apparent specific gravity are important to be
known by an irrigator who desires to obtain the best use of irrigation water.

The porosity is an index of the relative pore volume in the soil>> This is the portion occupied by air and
water in the soil and is expressed as percent by volume. The total porosity of a soil is generally
determined from the real specific gravity of the soil particles and the volume weight (apparent specific
gravity) of the soil mass.

The apparent specific gravity of a soil is the ratio of the weight of a given volume off dry soil, air space
included to the weight of an equal volume of water. This ratio is known as the "volume weight" or "bulk
density". Whereas apparent specific gravity is a dimensionless quantity, being weight of soil per unit
weight of water, bulk density is grams per cubic meter or mass per unit volume. Therefore, the
dimensions are not equal. However, since 1 gram of water fills a volume of 1 cubic cm at normal
temperature the two terms do have equal numerical values.

Objectives

1. To determine the porosity of the soil.

2. To determine the apparent specific gravity of the soil.

3. To be familiar with methods of obtaining soil samples from the field.

Materials

1. soil core samplers

2. oven

3. containers

4. foot ruler

5. aluminum foil

6. weighing balance

Procedure

A. Porosity Determinations

1. Proceed to the model farm of CAF. From the area specifically assigned to you, Pather obtain an
undisturbed soil samples of known volume with the use of a core sample is at 20-cm, 40-cm and 60-cm
depths.

2. Soak the soil samples with the core samplers in water for 24 to 48 hours.

3. Obtain the weight of the soil samples using a weighing balance.

Laboratory Exercise No. 1 Determination of Porosity and Apparent Specific Gravity of the Soil

Introduction

Intelligent irrigation practices, based on knowledge of soil and water relationship are a means to obtain
the best use of water available for farms.

Some basic physical properties of soil such as porosity and apparent specific gravity are important to be
known by an irrigator who desires to obtain the best use of irrigation water.

The porosity is an index of the relative pore volume in the soil>> This is the portion occupied by air and
water in the soil and is expressed as percent by volume. The total porosity of a soil is generally
determined from the real specific gravity of the soil particles and the volume weight (apparent specific
gravity) of the soil mass.

The apparent specific gravity of a soil is the ratio of the weight of a given volume off dry soil, air space
included to the weight of an equal volume of water. This ratio is known as the "volume weight" or "bulk
density". Whereas apparent specific gravity is a dimensionless quantity, being weight of soil per unit
weight of water, bulk density is grams per cubic meter or mass per unit volume. Therefore, the
dimensions are not equal. However, since 1 gram of water fills a volume of 1 cubic cm at normal
temperature the two terms do have equal numerical values.

Objectives

1. To determine the porosity of the soil.

2. To determine the apparent specific gravity of the soil.

3. To be familiar with methods of obtaining soil samples from the field.

Materials

1. soil core samplers

2. oven

3. containers

4. foot ruler

5. aluminum foil

6. weighing balance

Procedure

A. Porosity Determinations

1. Proceed to the model farm of CAF. From the area specifically assigned to you, Pather obtain an
undisturbed soil samples of known volume with the use of a core sample is at 20-cm, 40-cm and 60-cm
depths.

2. Soak the soil samples with the core samplers in water for 24 to 48 hours.

3. Obtain the weight of the soil samples using a weighing balance.

4. Oven-dry the samples for 24 hours fat a temperature of 100 to 105°C.

5. Obtain the oven-dry weight of the samples. The weight value in pounds divided by 62.4 will give the
volume of the water in cubic feet. If metric units are used, divide the volume in grams by the weight of
water in g/cc.

6. Calculate the porosity of the soil using the above data.

B. Apparent Specific Gravity Determination

1. Scrape the surface of the field around/area assigned to you.

2. Gently push through the soil the sampler being careful not to disturb the soil column. Dig around the
sampler to minimize disturbance.

3. After the sampler has reached a depth of 50-50 cm, carefully pull the sampler which should be fully
filled with soil, Smoothen the sides of the sampler.

4. Transfer the soil from the sampler to an aluminum foil.

5. Oven-dry the sample at a temperature of 105°C for a period of 24 hours.

6. Record the weight of the sampler, its length and diameter.

7. Obtain the oven-dry weight of the soil. Divide this with an equal volume of water to determine the
apparent specific gravity.
Results and Discussion

Conclusion

Problem/Questions

1. Which type of soil structure would you consider as the most desirable as far as crop production is
concerned?

2. What effect does cultivation have on soil structure or soil aggregation?

3. In which soil would you expect runoff and erosion to be most likely to occur: forest soil or cultivated
soil? Explain.

4. Discuss the importance of soil aggregation. How would you maintain or promote soil aggregation?

5. Why is bulk density a more meaningful figure in terms of practical agriculture than particle density?

6. What are some of the reasons why long cropped soils generally have higher bulk densities than soils
never disturbed by man?

7. Cite one situation when high bulk density of the soil is desirable.

8. How does porosity of a soil vary with the differences in texture and structure of soils?

9. What is the weight of moisture from soil taken from one hectare at a depth of 20 cm if its bulk density
is 1.55 gm/ft³?
10. How many cubic meters of water per hectare is needed to fill 75% of total porosity if the bulk density
and particle density of the soil are 1.0 gm/cm³ and 2.60 gm/cm³, respectively?

11. A mass of dry soil coated with paraffin weighs 496 grams. When immersed in water, it displaced 519
cc. After peeling off, the paraffin is found to be 12 grams. If the true specific gravity of the soil is 2.65 and
paraffin is 0.94, what is the porosity and apparent specific gravity of the soil?