Measuring Soil Properties

Grade 10 Biology
C. Bailey Polack
 Ph
• The soil ph can be measured using a universal
indicator solution.
 Distribution of rock particles
• Shake a fixed volume of soil with excess water
in a measuring cylinder, leave to settle and
measure the volume of the different particles .
• The largest sink first .
 Water Content
• Weigh a soil sample a
• Heat the sample to dryness at 100 oC,
reweight b
• Percentage of water in soil sample =
• (a-b/a)*100
 Humus Content
• Heat the dry soil sample to red heat to burn
off all the humus and reweigh c
• Percentage of humus in soil sample
• (b-c/b)*100
 Air Content
• Half filling a measuring cylinder with soil taken
directly from ecosystem, measure the volume
x
• Add a known volume of water greater than x –
y
• Record the new volume of soil + water z
• Percentage of air in soil sample (x+y-z/x)*100
 Water Holding Capacity
• Place a fixed volume of dry soil in a funnel
plugged with wet cotton wool.
• Pour a known volume of water through the
soil r
• Collect the water which drains through and
measure its volume s
• Volume of water retained = r-s