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.