Science report for the experiment on soil

Science Project Report

(Worksheet: How do scientists work? 4.0)

Title of project: Exploring the ways of preventing flood

Available types of soil: Top soil, clay soil, and sand

	Top soil	Clay soil	Sand
Size of pores	Large	Small	Medium

The aim of our project is to find out:

1.    The best type of soil to build the levee on the bank where the flood is going to happen

2.    Which section of the bank ( A, B or C ) should the levee be built first if there is only sufficient time to build on one part of the bank before the flood occur

Section A	Top Soil
Section B	Clay
Section C	Sand

Hypothesis for:

Q1. Top soil is the best soil (most absorbent soil) to be used to build the levee.

Q2. Section A (top soil) should be built first.

Our variables:

-	Independent	Dependent	Constants
Q1.	Type of soil	Amount of water at the start of the experiment	All materials used except the soil
-	-	-	Duration of the experiment
Q2.	Type of soil	Duration of the experiment	All materials used except the soil
-	-	Amount of water at the start of the experiment	-

Apparatus list for both experiments:

1.    3 plastic bottles (1.5 litres)

2.    About 200g each of 3 different soil types

·      Sand

·      Top soil or potting soil

·      Clay soil

3.    Piece of fine mesh

4.    250/500 ml beaker

5.    100 ml graduated cylinder

6.    Electronic Balance

7.    Stopwatch

8.    Hand lens

9.    Gloves

10. Plastic spoons

11. Soil testing device

12. Scissors

Some of the materials used in the experiments are shown below:

 

Procedure of experiment for Question 1:

1. Put the bottle top on top of the beaker
2. Put the mesh near the bottle neck

3. Weigh the soil
4. Pour in the soil
5. Pour in 200ml of water
6. Use stopwatch to time 5 minutes
7. Take down the volume of the water left (results)

Repeat steps 1 to 7 for the three different types of soil to achieve accurate and reliable results.

Procedure of the experiment for Question 2:

1. Put the bottle top on top of the beaker
2. Put the mesh near the bottle neck

3. Weigh the soil
4. Pour in the soil
5. Pour in 200ml of water
6. Use stopwatch to time
7. Stop the stopwatch when the water starts to drop down (results)

Repeat steps 1 to 7 for the three different types of soil to achieve accurate and reliable results.

 

 

Results for Question 1:

	Top soil	Clay soil	Sand	Observation
1st try	62 ml of water collected	26 ml of water collected	54 ml of water collected	The water from the clay soil had the least amount of water collected, followed by sand and top soil.
2nd try	60 ml of water collected	24 ml of water collected	42 ml of water collected	The water from the clay soil had the least amount of water collected, followed by sand and top soil.
3rd try	64 ml of water collected	28 ml of water collected	90 ml of water collected	The water from the clay soil had the least amount of water collected, followed by the sand and top soil

Conclusion: Clay absorbs the most amount of water and thus it is the most suitable soil to be used to build the levee.

Results for Question 2:

	Top soil	Clay soil	Sand	Observation
1st try	9.26 sec	3.5 sec	3.46 sec	The top soil blocked the water out for the longest time
2nd try	4.73 sec	3.29 sec	3.27 sec	The top soil blocked the water out for the longest time

Conclusion: Section A should be built first as the top soil blocks out the water for the most amount of time before the water leaks out.

Areas for further research and studies:

1. How does the type of soil affect the rate and amount of water absorption?
2. Does the type of water have an effect on the absorption rate of the different types of soils?

The members of the team doing this project are:
Leader: Dylan Tan ( 31 )
Group members: Tan Zi Nin ( 18 ), Angel Tan ( 1 ), Ashley Wong ( 2 ), Lin Jin Kai ( 25 )

Class 1K ( River Valley High School )

Note taking, picture taking, conducting the experiments and recording of measurements etc. were rotated among the team members.

Science Report for "Exploration of how water moves through soil"

I thought it would be better to take a screenshot of the word document than 'copy and paste' as the table and picture cannot be seen that way.

Science Soil Project

Group members: Fun Wen Yin (8) Tang Bi Feng (19) Qian Yilin (16) Low En Xing (13) 

Exploration of how water moves through soil

Differences of type of soil:

Clay

Top soil

Sand

 Aim:

 -To find out the best type of soil to be used in the sand bags to build the levee (Task 1)

 -To find out which of the three sections along the river (A , B or C) should be built first (Task 2) 

                               

Task 1:

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN and PROCEDURE for Task 1 and Task 2

Plan of Experimental Design

    

    (i)What are the factors that affect how much water soil can hold

         - amount of soil

         -amount of water

         - duration of the experiment

    

    (ii)Hypothesis:

         - Clay soil is the best type of soil to be used in the sand bags to build the levee

   

    (iii)What are the questions you are investigating:

         - which soil can reduce the amount of water dripping into the beaker?

     (iv)What are your independent, dependent and constant variables?

         - Independent variable: Type of soil

         - Dependent variable: Amount of water in the beaker after the experiment

         - Constant variable: Mass of the soil, the amount of water poured into the bottle with the soil,                                                

                                the size of the plastic bottle and duration of experiment.

         

         - What are the assumptions you have made, if any?: We have no assumptions.

b) Procedures

 

   (i) Steps

        

        1)Steps to make Soil-Testing Device

           

            (i) To conduct your experiment, you can make a soil-testing device like the one in the 

                 diagram below.

          

            (ii) Cut the plastic bottle across the middle. Remove the labels and the caps. The bottle top

                 will hold the soil, and the beaker (or the bottle bottom) will catch the water.

            (iii) Position the mesh near the bottle neck so it will keep the soil in the bottle top.

                     

            (iv) Rest the bottle top, neck down, on a beaker so that water poured through the soil in the.

                  bottle top will flow into the beaker

          

    

 

 

         2) Measure 100 grams of each soil                                                 

             and pour into the soil-testing device.   

         3) Use measuring cylinder to measure   

             100 ml of water.

         4) Start the stopwatch as you pour the  

             water from the measuring cylinder

             into the soil-testing device slowly.

             

         5) When the time on the stopwatch reaches 

             1 minute, take away the plastic bottle from the 

             beaker and place it into a spare container.

         6) Pour the water from the beaker into the 

             measuring cylinder and read the water level 

             In the measuring cylinder.

    

         7) repeat steps 2-6 one time and find the average water level.

         8) Jot down the results.

   Measuring instruments used:

     -Electronic Balance

     -Measuring cylinder

     -Beaker

     -Stopwatch

   RESULTS:

 

   ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION:

 Clay: It contains fine particles. It has the capacity to hold water. It doesn't hold air. Therefore it is very heavy in weight.

Sand:It contains large particles. It has large spaces in between them. It can retain water. Therefore it is light in weight.

Top soil : It has less water holding capacity ,which means that it is more porous and it is lighter 

Task 2:

3. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN and PROCEDURE for Task 2

Plan of Experimental Design

      (i) What are the factors that affect how much water a soil can hold?

         -the amount of air spaces in the soil

         -how absorbent the soil is 

     

      (ii) What is your hypothesis?

         -The levee should be build at Section B first.

      

      (iii) What are the questions you are investigating

         - What is the time taken for 75 ml of water to drip from the different types of soil?              

          - How will it slow down the flooding?

      

      (iv) What are your independent, dependent and constant variables?

          -Independent variable: type of soil

          -Dependent variable:time which the water takes to drip into the beaker reaching a                      

           Certain amount

          -Constants: mass of soil, amount of water and side of bottle.

(b)PROCEDURES

Steps:

1) Measure 130 ml of water in a measuring cylinder

2) Slowly pour the water into the soil. Press the    stopwatch as you pour the water.

3) Wait for the water to drip to a volume of 75 ml then press the stopwatch

4) Record the time taken for the water to drip to 75 ml in a table.

5) Repeat steps 1 to 4 using the different type of soils.

                                                                                                            

    

      

              

RESULTS:

5) Analysis and Discussion of Results 

( Section A ) Topsoil contains of almost equal amounts of sandy and clay

It can retain less water than clay but can retain more water than sand. 

( Section B ) Clay can hold the most amount of water out of the three different types of soil as there                   are only a few air spaces on between each soil particle. 

( Section C ) Sand holds the least amount of water among the three different types of soil as it's soil particles are large with many air spaces in between. 

6) Conclusion

The levee should be filled with topsoil (Task 2)

The levee should be built on section B first, given the limitation of time.   (Task 2) 

7) Areas of Further Research and Study 

What are some of the plants that are able to grow in clay/ sand/ garden soil?

 - Why can they do so?

8) Reference 

http://agverra.com/blog/soil-types/

Duty list

Wen yin:

clay soil experiment (task 1 )

Top soil experiment (task 2)

En xing

top soil experiment (task 1)

Sand experiment (task 2)

Yilin:

Timer 

In charge of measuring water

Bi Feng 

sand experiment

Clay soil experiment.

In charge of electronic balance.