The Porosity of Different Types of Soil.

1. The Porosity of Different Types of Soil. First Name, Last Name Homeroom _____ Grade _____

2. Title Slide Guidelines to follow for Title Page (Slide #1) DUE ________ □ States the research question clearly and concisely. □ Shows the student’s name, homeroom and grade level labeled clearly

3. Purpose The purpose of this experiment is to determine which type of soil can hold the most water based upon how large the pore space is between each particle that makes up the soil.  This is an important idea for a person to understand because it can be used when deciding which type of soil to use in potting plants or even looking at the soil for their landscaping.  On a grander scale, knowing this information could be used to help determine the best type of soil to use in sand bags because the particles size in the soil could be used to compact the bags closer.

4. Purpose Slide Guidelines to follow for Purpose (Slide #2) DUE ______ □ States precisely what the investigation was attempting to discover. □ States a definite question or problem. □ Answer how your experiment will influence the world. What value will it have outside the classroom? □ Explain why you wanted to research this question or problem. □ State what you hope to learn from this project. □ Written in one complete paragraph.

5. Hypothesis Given that most soils are composed of mineral types, like sand, silt or clay, and organic matter, the pore space is determined by knowing the soil type and the percentage of sand, clay and silt within the soil.  It is important to also remember that as the soil particle size increases, the pore size also increases.  The opposite situation also occurs.  Given all of these factors, the experimenter believes that the soil sample size from the suburban yard will displace the most water because the suburban yard must absorb a lot of water from rainfall, melting of snow/ice, watering vegetation, water runoff, etc.  The experimenter believes that the suburban park and city park will be next in absorbing the most water because the parks should contain similar amounts of mineral given that they are both used in parks.  Since parks also have areas that are designed for different fields to play sports, the compositions of the soil are a little more versatile in mineral compositions, which means it will not absorb as much water, but keep it on top of the soil to be evaporated into the atmosphere to keep those fields dryer.  Finally, the city lakefront will absorb the least amount of water because the amount of water it is exposed to yields a soil that must allow most of the water to run-off back into the lake.  

6. Hypothesis Slide Guidelines to follow for Hypothesis (Slide #3) DUE _______ □ A hypothesis statement is present-what do you think is going to happen in your experiment? □ Explain why you made that particular hypothesis statement. Answer how you arrived at that possible conclusion? □ Written in one complete paragraph.

7. Variables -Independent Variable: The different types of Soil; Suburban Front Yard, Suburban Park, City Park, City Lakefront, Potting Soil. -Dependent Variable: how porous the soil was, measured in space within the soil by looking at how much water the soil absorbed from the starting amount of 300ml. -Constants: amount of soil, how the soil was obtained, the beaker used to collect and pour the water, the place where the water came from, the time and day of performing the experiment, when and how the data was collected for the experiment, the conditions of the room the experiment was performed in. -Control Group: Potting Soil -Experimental Groups: Suburban Front Yard, Suburban Park, City Park, City Lakefront

8. Variables Slide Guidelines for Variables (Slide #4) DUE ______ • □ Each different type of variable is clearly labeled • □ One variable being changed (independent/manipulated); correctly identified • □ One variable being measured (dependent/responding); correctly identified • □ One of the independent variables used as the control group; correctly identified • □ There are multiple items under controls/constants; correctly identified • □ The rest of the independent variables listed as the experimental groups; correctly identified

9. Terms to Know •Independent variable / manipulating variable: the experimenter changes a factor to observe what will happen. The factor that is changed is the independent / manipulating variable. •Dependent variable / responding variable: The factors that were changed may cause something else to happen. The “something else to happen” is the dependent / responding variable. This is what the experimenter measures (be sure to measure in metric units). •Constants: the factors that stay the same throughout the entire experiment. The experimenter wants to keep everything the same except for the independent variable being tested. •Control Group/Comparison Group: a study group that is used as comparison. Think of the standard situation. A sample that is treated like the other experimental groups except the independent variable is not applied to it. •Experimental Groups: Those that have something done to them. The “something” is the independent / manipulating variable.

10. Materials ·Five 600 ml beakers: Used as testing containers. ·5000 ml of distilled water: Liquid to pour in soil samples. ·One measuring cup: Used to collect soil samples and to measure out trial testing amount. ·Five different types of soil from different areas: suburban front lawn, suburban park, city park, city lakefront, potting soil. 1800 mls of each soil. Material with which porosity is being tested. ·Five clear plastic (3200 ml) storage containers: Used to collect initial soil samples. ·Foldable shovel: Used to collect soil samples from the ground. ·Spoon: Used to dispense soil into the beakers from the storage containers.

11. Materials Slide Guidelines to follow for Materials (Slide #5 or more) DUE ________ □ Apparatus (equipment used) and materials are listed □ Drawings and photographs are present if they enhance and clarify the apparatus □ List the material used and one sentence explaining how it is being used in the experiment. □ You may use bullet points where one bullet relates to one piece of equipment used. □ Be sure to include how much of something is being used for each trial and how much for the whole experiment (You must have at least 3 trials). □ Always use metric units: i.e grams, liters or milliliters, centimeters or millimeters, and °C.

12. Procedure 1. First, you will need to find your soil sample. You will want 3-5 different soil samples. 2. Fill each clear plastic container with 600 ml each of your samples. Label each container with the soil sample type.  3. Fill each beaker with 200 ml of each soil sample. 4. Fill your metric measuring cup with water to the 300 mL mark.  Place a screen on top of the beaker to keep organic matter from floating out as you pour the water into the cup. 5. Pour water into the first sample until it reaches 300 ml. Pour slowly and gently so you do not spill water out of the measuring cup, as this will cause error in your measurement. 6. Record the amount of water left in the measuring cup. It should be less than 300 mL. Write your result in a data table:

13. Procedure Continued 7. Now calculate the amount of empty space in the sample by subtracting the amount of water you measured from 300 mL. 8. Then calculate the percentage of soil space by dividing the remaining amount of water by the initial amount of water. 9. Repeat steps 2-6 for each sample four times. 10. Make a graph of your data to compare your results.

14. Procedure Slide Guidelines to follow for the Procedure (Slide #6 or more) DUE ________ □ Step-by-step, chronological procedures are present. □ Number of test groups is adequate, and the number of trials within each test group is adequate. Be sure to state “Repeat steps ___ through ____ three more times.” □ The control of variables is evident. (Make sure you are testing only one variable!) □ The procedure should be presented in step-by-step form. Do not leave any step out, even “gathering materials.”

15. Trial #1 Data Table

16. Trial # 2 Data Table

17. Trial #3 Data Table

18. Data Table Slide Guidelines to follow for the Data Tables(Slide #7 through #10) DUE _________ □ Data is organized into tables/charts. □ Data is quantitative and correct units of measurement (metric) are used and labeled in the table. □ Data is clear and accurate. □ Each trial has its own data table □ There are headings for the columns and rows of the data tables □ 3 trials are required

20. Graph Slide Guidelines to follow for Graph of Data (Slide #11) DUE ___________ □ Graph has an appropriate title, labels for each axis with units when necessary, appropriate scales and a key. □ All students must have at least one graph explaining the results of their experiment. They may choose to do one graph with all of the trials present or a graph of each individual trial. □ Students may use bar, line or pie graphs to represent their data. Students will decide which one is appropriate to show their data. □ 1 paragraph explaining what your data is showing you. Explain your data. What trends or patterns did you notice in your data? Is there any data that is out of place? Why is this so? Why did you get the results that you did?

21. Data Analysis The graph shows that the potting soil had the highest percentage of soil space because potting soil is geared specifically to provide plants with their necessary amount of minerals. The potting soil had the highest percentage of soil space with an average of seventy-eight percent.  The suburban yard and the suburban park appear to have very similar compositions of minerals within the soil because the average percentage of soil space is right around forty percent.  The city lakefront had the least percentage of soil space with an average percent of thirty-nine percent. 

22. Data Analysis Slide Guidelines to follow for Analysis of Graph (Slide #12) DUE ___________ □ 1 paragraph explaining what your data is showing you. Explain your data. Think about.. -What trends or patterns did you notice in your data? -Is there any data that is out of place? Why is this so? -Why did you get the results that you did?

23. Conclusion My hypothesis was incorrect because the order of absorption that I thought was not right for the suburban yard, suburban park, potting soil or city yard.  I was correct in thinking that the city lakefront would have the lowest absorption rate because of all the sand present.  If the experimenter were to perform this experiment again, then she would find the time to analyze the soil samples to discover exactly what the soil is composed of and in what percentage, because knowing this may help to explain the results better.  In this experiment, the type of error experienced would be experimental error.  In this experiment, the experimenter used a plastic measuring cup to measure out the water level used in testing the soil porosity.  Since it was a white colored plastic measuring cup, it was hard to distinguish if the meniscus of the water sample were truly at 300 ml each time in each trial.  Also, the measuring cup had large divisions of the milliliters on the side. The soil was dried and some of it was in large chunks, there may have been some soil cups with a little less or even a little more than 200 ml when each trial was completed.  This could have affected how much water was displaced because of the different starting amounts of soil.  Furthermore, since some of the soil samples were in large chunks, while other samples were much more compact, this could cause some discrepancy in the true amount of space within the soil.

24. Conclusion Slide Guidelines to follow for this section: Conclusions (Slide #13 or more) DUE _______ Some questions to answer in your conclusion statement. 1) Was the hypothesis statement correct? Why or why not? 2) Explain your data. What trends or patterns did you notice in your data? Is there any data that is out of place? Why is this so? Why did you get the results that you did? 3) How did your research support or disprove your data? What did you learn from your research that helps you answer how and why you got the results that you did? If there was nothing that helped, then what should you research to help with explaining the data? 4) What problems/changes did you encounter in your experiment? How did these problems affect your results? How did you correct these problems? 5) If you were to perform this experiment again, what would you change to make it better and why?

25. Overall Presentation Overall Slide Presentation Guidelines: DUE ________ -Be as creative as you want in the design of the slides and the way the information is presented. Add color, add pictures, add creative ways for the information to appear and disappear. MAKE SURE the font on the slide is readable and large enough for the whole room to read. -When you save your slide presentation, be sure to include your name and project title in the name of the document so it will be easy for Mr. Spencer to separate the presentations into the individual classes. Student must “share” the document with Mr. Spencer at caspencer@cps.edu in google drive.