Materials/Equipment:

Container/s (big and small) - used to hold the soil sample for the experiment

Sieve - used to separate the wanted particle sizes to be oven dried in this experiment

Thongs - used in handling the containers after oven drying the samples to avoid injury

Brush - used to get rid of unwanted materials in the containers and sieve

Spatula - used to move small amounts of soil

Sampling Spoon - used to scoop up the soil sample into the container
 Materials/Equipment:

Oven - used to dry the soil sample

Balance - used in measuring the soil sample before and after oven drying

Desiccator - are sealable enclosures containing desiccants used for preserving moisture-

sensitive sample, but we did not really use this because we weighed the soil immediately
Pictures during Experiment:

Getting of representative soil sample

Putting of representative soil sample into the sieve

Pictures during Experiment:

Manual sieving of the representative soil sample

Weighing of containers for the separated soil particles

Pictures during Experiment:

Weighing of the separated soil particles

 Sample Computations:

Equation:

(𝑊1 −𝑊𝑐 )−(𝑊2 −𝑊𝑐 )

ML = 𝑊1 − 𝑊2 ,𝑤= 𝑥 100%
(𝑊2 −𝑊𝑐 )

Where:

w = water content of soil 𝑊𝐶 = weight of container

𝑊1 = weight of container plus moist soil 𝑊2 = weight of container plus oven-dry

ML = moisture loss

Trial 1:

ML = 𝑊1 − 𝑊2

ML = 94.16 g - 90.85 g

ML = 3.31 g

(𝑊1 −𝑊𝑐 )−(𝑊2 −𝑊𝑐 )

𝑤= 𝑥 100%
(𝑊2 −𝑊𝑐 )

(94.16−67.07)−(90.85−67.07)
𝑤= 𝑥 100%
(90.85−67.07)

w = 15.197 %
 Results and Discussions:

As seen on the results of our experiment, the oven-drying of the soil sample

made it lose its moisture content, thus making it lighter compared to the initial soil sample.

The water present on a given quantity of soil known as water content “w” is defined as the

ratio, expressed as a percentage of the weight of water in a given soil mass to the weight of

solid particles. For man soils, the water content may be an extremely important index used

for establishing the relationship between the soils behaves and its properties. The consistency

of a fine-grained soil largely depends on its water content. The water content is also used in

expressing the relationships of air, water, and solid in a given volume of soil.

A common method of determining soils water content is by oven drying

which is what we have done in this experiment. We all used the same type of soil and oven

dried it to the same oven with a temperature control to avoid variance in the results of each

group. However we can do this experiment without the use of the oven but it would take

much longer and is normally dried within 24 hours so that you can achieve more accurate

result.
 Conclusion:

Based from the results of our experiment, we got inconsistent average water

content from each of our soil sample particles because the soil samples water content goes

from 12% to 15% and then back to 12% again respective of their particle size from sieves 3/8

to 4, and 10. But when you look at Trial 1 of our experiment, we achieved a rather conclusive

result which denotes that the finer soil particles have less water content, and this is contrary

to what I’ve learned because finer soils tend to retain more water. The error in our result may

be due to the improper sieving of the soil or it can also be because the representative soil

sample that we gathered has inconsistent water content.

 Answers to Questions:

1. Why is it not recommended to leave an oven-dried sample in the open air for a long time

before measuring its dry weight?

 Because it might absorb the moisture in the air when you leave it in the open air for a

considerable amount of time.

2. Excluding oven drying, are there other methods to determine the water content of soils?

 There are many alternative methods in determining soils water content and a notable

one is the sand bath method because it used in fields where there no lab equipment

available. Other methods include Alcohol Method, Infrared Lamp Torsion Balance

Method, Calcium Carbide Method, and Pycnometer Method.

3. Is it possible to measure water content of sand?

 Yes, you can do so by using the same method done in this experiment or you can just

simply get a moisture meter to obtain fast results but it would be more costly.
 Answers to Questions:

4. Why do we use a fixed temperature range to dry soils? What is the effect on soils of

microwave drying?

 We use a fixed temperature range in drying soil samples in order for us to attain a

constant dryness in every particle of the soil sample.

 When a microwave is used in drying a soil sample it will definitely be faster since it

can reach high temperature in a short amount of time but then the dryness of the soil

sample would not be uniform since it was heated so fast so the outer particles may not

be as dry as the particles on the inside.

5. What is the function of the container lid and desiccator when determining the water

content of soil?

 The container lid and desiccator is used to avoid the soil sample from absorbing any

water or moisture in the air. The laboratory is air-conditioned and humid so the soil

sample will likely absorb the air moisture if not contained.