Soil
- and why it's important
-Only 3% of the earths soil is ideal for farming as you can imagine this is a huge problem made worse by the fact that we are wasting soil via things like: pollution, overgrazing and monoculture
-Soil also functions as a carbon store and as you know global heating is one of if not the biggest threat to human existence if we waste soil more carbon will be released speeding up pollution.
-Soil also happens to be a non-renewable resource meaning that it is not recoverable during the human lifespan which is another reason to conserve this precious resource
I have compiled some excellent sites that compliment the importance of soil
- www.reference.com/science/soil-important-humans-181b24e43d051f
Our soil tests:
What is the importance of air and humus content in our soil?
Air is important because it gives the soil oxygen to breath otherwise the soil will have no air and the plant will die. Humus is important because it gives the soil nutrients which keeps the soil keep healthy.
What does the air and humus content mean for the plants in our window garden?
It means the soil will be healthy and the plants will thrive.
Describe the texture of our soil sample?
There are some big particles in the soil with bits of stick in it and the texture of the soil feels a bit rough from the big particles. It's fine in rich organic matter but has many sand particles.
How would you classify your soil sample?
It's quite well air rated, but it look like it won't hold water very well because the particles look like it's too parted and loose.
Explain the relationship between soil texture and soil water retention?
The soil texture is rough from rich organic matter and has sand particles and some big particles in the soil.
What does this information about your soil texture mean for your window garden?
It means that there will have to be some clay to hold the water, the soil is rich in organic matter which is good for the garden, it is well air rated which is important so that there is air in the soil, otherwise it will die and there are many sand particles which is going to stop the soil from getting water.
Soil sample 1: mass of soil: 100g, amount of water that drained into glass beaker: 77ml, amount of water retained by the soil: 23ml
Soil sample 2: mass of soil: 100g, amount of water that drained into glass beaker: 38ml, amount of water retained by the soil: 62ml
Which soil sample retained more water? How much more did it retain?
Sample number 2: 39ml
Which soil sample retained less water?
Sample 1.
Can you explain why there may be differences in water content between the two soil samples?
The one had more air space and could hold more water.
Do you think that a high level of water retention in a soil is likely to be beneficial or harmful to plants growing in that soil? Suggest a reason.
Harmful, because it would be considered as waterlogged on the plants. That would happen if the plant can't hold that amount of water.
What advantage would soil with a high amount of organic matter have over soil with a low amount of organic matter, as suggested by the results of this experiment.
Some of the organic matter in the soil can be transferred to the other soil.
What value is there in knowing the water content of your soil in your window garden?
The water won't drown the plants and it won't be too dry.
Based on our results for our soil, our soil would be suitable to grow plants because our soil is loamy soil and our plants will grow well with it.
William you can add more pictures and diagrams(layers of soil,different types of soil and stuff like that and also talk about the soil we chose) and videos
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