Tractor ploughing a field
The study of soil can provide fertile ground (pun intended) for a lot of good science.
While it is often overlooked and thought of as mere ‘dirt’, soil is in fact a complex mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together provide an environment that can support life. It has several critical functions:
- a medium for plant growth
- a means of water storage, supply and purification
- a modifier of Earth’s atmosphere
- a habitat for organisms
The document below describes a few simple experiments to investigate some of the physical and chemical properties of soil:
- Temperature
- pH
- Moisture content
- Density
- Permeability
- Porosity
- Particle size and
- Organic content
