COLEGIO BILINGÜE SAN JUAN DE AVILA LTDA
Educación Integral para un Futuro Exitoso
www.colsanjuandeavila.edu.co; e-mail: info@colsanjuandeavila.edu.co
Km. 5 vía Suba - Cota Teléfono: 6 80 62 80 Telefax: 6 92 98 32
Bogotá D.C – Colombia
AREA: Ciencias Naturales
TEACHER´S NAME: Nicolás Felipe Acosta Muñoz
NAME:
SUBJECT: Science
DATE:
GRADE:
LAB PRACTICE: COMPOSITION OF SOIL
OBJECTIVE
To recognize the different components of soil and its
characteristics.
To use data tables for investigating the soil drainage
behavior in different samples of soil
2. Take one piece of filter paper and make a cone with it.
Place the filter paper onto the funnel using some drops of
water to hold it against the glass.
3. Place the funnel inside a graduated cylinder. Then, pour
a measured volume of water (20 mL) onto the soil.
4. Collect the liquid that comes through in the graduated
cylinder for 5 minutes.
MATERIALS
Samples of soil
Hand lens
250-mL beaker
Watch glass
Glass stirrer
Filter Paper
Funnel
Graduated Cylinder
Stopwatch
Spatula
White paper
ACTIVITY 1 – Looking at different soils
Soil is made up of pieces of rock and minerals, humus,
bacteria, fungi, and small animals. Humus is the remains of
dead plants and animals. This is sometimes called organic
matter.
1. Spread each soil on a piece of white paper. Look carefully
at it using a hand lens for each of the soil samples.
2. Describe what you can see. Draw a labelled diagram that
includes a description of each soil.
ACTIVITY 2 – Looking at the composition of soils
1. Place some soil from one sample in a 250-mL beaker.
2. Add some water so that the beaker is about two-thirds
full.
3. Stir the mixture using the glass stirrer until all the soil
particles are separated.
4. Leave the beaker and its contents to settle. Put the watch
glass over the beaker and check the soil particles in the next
day.
5. Collect the data from the volumes of water collected after
5 minutes from your group and your classmates’
experimental sets, and draw the following table in your
notebook
Soil
Sample
Volume of
water
poured on
funnel (mL)
Time
measured
(s)
1
2
3
4
20
20
20
20
300
300
300
300
Volume of
water
collected
in cylinder
(mL)
ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS
Answer each of the following questions in your notebook for
each activity.
Activity 1
a. In a table, establish the differences and similarities of
materials that you have observe in all the four samples of
soil used for analysis.
Activity 2
5. Check the particles with the help of your classmates for
each of the soil samples analyzed.
6. Answer the questions you will find at the Analysis of
results.
Activity 3 – Investigating soil drainage
Some soils allow water to pass through them very quickly.
These soils drain quickly. Other soils may hold water for a
long time.
This property depends on the composition of soil. Sandy
soils drain very quickly but soils containing lots of clay
particles hold water for a long time.
Drainage of water is very important for the survival of crops.
Farmers sometimes treat the soil to improve the drainage.
This helps them grow the crops.
1. Place a measured volume of soil in piece of white paper.
b. When you repeat this investigation with different samples
of soil, what must you do to make sure the investigation is a
fair test?
c. Where are the heaviest particles of the soil samples you
prepared? What substance do you believe is the heaviest
particles? Explain why.
d. Which part of the soil is floating in the top of the water?
Explain.
Activity 3
e. What are you trying to find out by doing the procedure
indicated in this activity? Explain.
f. Which variables did you keep the same to find out the
objective of the procedure? Explain why.
g. How did you know which soil has a better drainage?
Explain your results comparing the different samples of soil