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Analysis of Soil – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W, Mihalca M, Rosso T Introduction Soil science is a complex subject, requiring geology and microbiology. In this report, we will try to analyze aspects of soil, focusing on composition: the ratio of sand, silt, and clay; organisms present: by the use of the microscope and color investigation; pH: finding out the positive hydrogen ion concentration; and lastly: mass, volume, and density. Before these experiments (explained in Methodology), we hadn’t much previous knowledge on this topic, so most of the information we now have on this topic came from these experiments. Our limited previous knowledge allowed us to do only several tests with inefficient time, which is why we were not able to complete everything we wanted to. Methodology 25th of March: We took soil from 20 cm under the ground from a grassy area, which is the soil that I will refer to as the “soil sample” in the following experiments. Composition 27th of March, 2023: We filtered a soil sample using a sieve, to get only the sand, silt and clay particles as well as to remove any organic matter from the soil. The soil that was left would be the humus layer. 3rd of April, 2023: We put 30 ml of filtered soil and 15 ml of water with 3 ml of water softener in the graded cylinder and waited for the composition of the soil to come out as we thought. The amount of water was too small, so we put in another 10 ml. After one week, we could see that the soil in the tube had completely turned into clay, sand, and silt. Because of the weight and density of the clay is very small, it should float up (the small brown particles that float in the water); and the silt has more weight and density than clay, it should be in the middle of the tube (the light brown part); last, sand, the composition with most weight and the density, it should be in the bottom layer (the darker brownish part in the bottom). 17th of April, 2023: The soil on the bottom was measured 23 centimeters, because all of the clay floated up. That meant that 7ml of the original 30ml was actually clay. We looked at the graded cylinder until we eventually saw a difference in color/texture in the bottom soil. We saw that 5ml of the remaining 23ml were different in texture/color. The remaining 18ml were rougher than the 5ml above, and had a slightly darker brown tinge. These are the final numbers that we had gotten: Fig.1 Table of Sand to Silt to Clay ratio that we Assumed Organisms Present 17th of April, 2023: We looked under the microscope in search of any form of life. Originally, we wanted to swab the dirt and put it in an agar petri dish to see if any bacteria or fungi would’ve been present. We entirely forgot about this and hadn’t time to do it then. Instead, we looked for remnants of life, like roots. We eventually found some of them which proved the almost 100% certainty that there was life in the soil at some point. We also analyzed the color, which helped us know if there were organisms present as well. Fig.2 Detached Root Under Microscope Found in our Soil Sample [17/04/2023] Color 17th of April, 2023: This test wasn’t difficult to do, though it provided much importance. The color of soil provides evidence for the number of organisms present in it. The darker brown the soil is, the more organic matter there is. Our soil was approximately light brown, showing evidence of little organic matter. Fig.3 Soil Sample (Right) Humus Layer (Left) [22/04/2023] Mass & Density 3rd of April, 2023: We put the beaker on the weight scale and it weighed 193g. We then used the humus from the first experiment (Composition) that we didn’t use and put it in a beaker that measured 15ml. We then weighed the beaker which measured approximately 221g (minus the weight of the beaker). We did the same thing with the regular soil sample with a volume of 150ml and measured it at 140 grams (again, minus the weight of the beaker). Divide the mass by the volume, and they have a density of 0.7ml/g and 1.1ml/g respectively. Materials Composition Graded Cylinder Water Water Softener Sieve Soil Sample Organisms Present Light Microscope Light Microscope Slide Soil Sample Color Soil Sample Mass & Density Beaker Weight Scale Soil Sample Observations & Discussion During our first experiment (Composition) when we filtered the soil through the sieve, we noticed a lot of rocks and stones occurring in the soil. This could be because we took the soil from 20 cm below the surface. I hypothesize that if we took soil from a deeper environment, we would find more rocks. During our second and third experiments (Organisms Present & Color), we noticed that even despite looking at the humus layer under the microscope, we were unable to find a single organism under the taxonomic classification of the kingdom Animalia. I hypothesize that if we took our soil sample from an aquatic environment, we would’ve found microscopic animals (invertebrates). Overall, we didn’t have enough time to complete everything we wanted to, as an example: the experiment that we were going to do last. We hadn’t time to measure the pH of our soil, or do our original experiment for measuring organisms. Conclusion & Results All of our completed experiments had results, which I will summarize and explain here. Our results in the first experiment (Composition) are shown on this table below: Fig.4 Triangular Table of Sand to Silt to Clay Ratio in Our Soil Sample Based on Results This kind of ratio will result in it being a sandy clay loam, not ideal for housing a variety of plants. This is because sand does not hold water, making it unlikely to host much life. This explains the next experiment as well, which was Organisms Present. This experiment showed results of how there wasn’t much (non-bacterial) life occurring in our soil. The results of the experiment after that, Color, revealed that there was little organic matter in our soil as well (including bacteria). All experiments proved the rest, which meant that we either botched these three experiments and got very random outliers which all matched, or did every experiment correctly and got the accurate results. To summarize: our soil had little organic matter and life because of excess sand in our soil. I will try to conclude is the third experiment (Color) in this paragraph. The results of this experiment showed us that there was little organic matter in our soil, which can be taken steps further. Little organic matter in soil tends to tell you that the soil is inhospitable, which we couldn't find why (apart from the absence of water in the sandy clay loam). I have several hypotheses for this: Acidic/Alkaline environment: We could have found the pH of the soil using our information that we know about our soil. If there is little organic life, then there will be less biochemical activity in our soil sample. Biochemical activity usually doesn’t occur because enzymes inside cells are deformed by the environment (e.g pH). This could mean that the pH of our soil sample is too high or too low to host life. Low nutrition: Low microbial life (or any life in general) tells you that wherever that biome is, it is not ideal for life. One reason that areas are inhospitable is poor nutrition. If soil has an absence of nitrogen (N), potassium (K) phosphorus (P) or mineral nutrients, then plants and other organisms will have a difficult time living there. Both of these hypotheses are equally plausible with our given information, unless the composition (sand to silt to clay ratio) is enough to drive away most of the organic matter; that is unlikely.

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土壌分析 – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W、Mihalca M、Rosso T はじめに 土壌科学は複雑なテーマであり、地質学と微生物学が必要です。このレポートでは、組成に焦点を当てて土壌の側面を分析しようとします。砂、シルト、粘土の比率。存在する生物：顕微鏡と色の調査の使用による。 pH: 発見

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Soil Analysis – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W, Mihalca M, Rosso T Introduction Soil science is a complex subject, requiring geology and microbiology. This report attempts to analyze aspects of soil with a focus on composition. The ratio of sand, silt and clay. Organisms that exist: microscopic and color studies

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土壌分析 – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W、Mihalca M、Rosso T はじめに 土壌科学は複雑なテーマであり、地質学と微生物学が必要です。このレポートでは、組成に焦点を当てて土壌の側面を分析しようとします。砂、シルト、粘土の比率。存在する生物: 顕微鏡と色の研究

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Soil Analysis – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W, Mihalca M, Rosso T Introduction Soil science is a complex subject, requiring geology and microbiology. This report attempts to analyze aspects of soil with a focus on composition. The ratio of sand, silt and clay. Living organisms: the study of microscopy and color

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土壌分析 – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W、Mihalca M、Rosso T はじめに 土壌科学は複雑なテーマであり、地質学と微生物学が必要です。このレポートでは、組成に焦点を当てて土壌の側面を分析しようとします。砂、シルト、粘土の比率。生物：顕微鏡と色の研究

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Soil Analysis – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W, Mihalca M, Rosso T Introduction Soil science is a complex subject, requiring geology and microbiology. This report attempts to analyze aspects of soil with a focus on composition. The ratio of sand, silt and clay. Biology: the study of microscopy and color

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土壌分析 – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W、Mihalca M、Rosso T はじめに 土壌科学は複雑なテーマであり、地質学と微生物学が必要です。このレポートでは、組成に焦点を当てて土壌の側面を分析しようとします。砂、シルト、粘土の比率。生物学：顕微鏡と色の研究

BACK INTO ENGLISH

Soil Analysis – Rotondo Marcello; Zhou W, Mihalca M, Rosso T Introduction Soil science is a complex subject, requiring geology and microbiology. This report attempts to analyze aspects of soil with a focus on composition. The ratio of sand, silt and clay. Biology: the study of microscopy and color