Science report (Jing Han, XinTong, Sandra, Renne & Celest)

Reducing the volume of flooded water

 

Introduction of the project:

The different type of soil allows different volume of water to seep through them and thee different types of soil absorb different volume of water.

Aim of the project:

The aim of this experiment is to find out if topsoil, clay soil or sand can absorb the most water and prevent the strong currents of the water from destroying the houses on the banks of the river and find out which section along the river should be built first and there is a limitation of time.

TASK 1:

Experimental design:

 

 

 

Plan of experimental design:

Factors affecting the volume of water a soil can hold:

the air spaces in the soil and the volume of water that the soil can absorb, which causes a volume of water to seep through the soil.

Hypothesis:
Topsoil allows less water to seep through as compared to clay soil and sand.


Questions while investigating:
Is this a fair test? Are the results reliable?

Variables

- Independent: type of soil: topsoil, clay soil and sand

 -Dependent: the volume of water that seeps through the soil after 1 min

 -Constant:

1) mass of each type of soil in each bottle top (150g)

2) volume of water poured into each bottle top (150ml)                 

3) length of bottle top                                

4) the duration of the experiment for each soil (1min per trial)

Procedure:

1. Set up the soil-testing device on the table.
2. Measure the mass of the topsoil with the electronic balance given and sure that there is about 150g of topsoil.
3. Pour the top soil into bottle top, above the mesh.
4. Measure 150ml of water and pour it onto the topsoil.
5. Start the stop watch immediately after all the water has been poured and stop the stop watch after a minute.
6. Take the beaker (which has the bottle top resting on it) filled with water that seeped through the top soil and measure the volume of water in it, using a measuring cylinder.
7. Record the result and repeat the experiment again with the topsoil and find the average amount of water that seeped through the top soil
8. Repeat step 2-7 with clay soil and sand and come up with a table.

 

Measuring instruments used: 250ml beaker, 50/100ml cylinder, electronic balance and stopwatch

Clay soil

Sand

Top soil

 

Results:

Type of soil	1st trial/ml	2nd trial/ml	Average/ml
Topsoil	27	78	52.5
clay soil	5.5	6	5.75
Sand	14	17	15.5

 

 

Analysis and discussion of results:

The space in between the soil particles, called pores, helps retain the water and prevent it from seeping through the soil. Therefore, the soil’s ability to retain the water from seeping through the soil is related to the soil’s particle size. The smaller the soil particles are, less water is able to seep through it. We can conclude that clay soil has smaller soil particles as compared to top soil and sand.

Conclusion:

Clay soil is the best type of soil to be used in the sand bags to build the levee as compared to topsoil and sand as it allows less water to seep through it. If less water seeps through the levee, it will reduce the volume of water that will accumulate and thence, reduce the volume of flooded water. The levee at section B should be built first as clay soil seems to have more effect when it comes to reducing the volume of water that seeps through the levee and reducing the rate of flood.

Areas for further research or study:

Areas for improvement:

It was not a fair test at first so we had to redo the whole test again, I think we should be more careful handling the materials and make sure that we are conducting a fair test. We ended up without enough soil so we had to decrease the amount of soil used to 150g for each type of soil. Furthermore, we spilled some soil while conducting the experiment while pouring them into the bottle top due to carelessness.


Questions:
How does soil absorbs water? Why does different type of soil affect the volume of water absorbed and does it have to do with the particles inside the soil?

Reference:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/r4082e/r4082e03.htm#2.1 the soil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_water_(retention)

Duty list:

Report:

1)      Cheng Jing Han(2): set up the experiment

2)      Chian XinTong(4): carried out the experiment, recorded results and did the report

3)      Sandra Kho(8): set up the experiment

4)      Renee(18): set up the experiment

5)      Celest Seah(19): carried out the experiment

 

Everyone contributed by bringing the materials, and gave ideas for the report