Water Holding Abilities

Bunny Guy                      John Fiske School
                               6145 S. Ingleside Street
                               Chicago IL 60637
                               (312) 535-0990

Objectives:

To find out which holds more water----plain soil, soil with evergreen needles, 
or soil with pebbles.

Equipment:

3 plastic foam cups     pencils
3 small jars            water
measuring cup           garden soil
paper towels            garden soil with evergreen needles
marking pen             garden soil with pebbles
nail                     

Procedure:

1.  Get 3 plastic foam cups. Label the cups A, B, and C.  
2.  Using a nail, make 4 holes in the bottom of each cup.  On each cup mark a 
    line 2cm from the top.
3.  Tightly pack cup A with plain garden soil.  Pack cup B with soil mixed with
    evergreen needles and cup C with soil mixed with pebbles.
4.  Place each cup on top of 2 pencils that have been put over a jar.
5.  Pour 100mL of water into each cup of soil.  Allow the water to drain through 
    the holes.
6.  When water has stopped draining, measure the amounts of water in each jar.
7.  Make 3 stacks of paper towels with 3 towels in each stack.
8.  Predict which cup of soil will make the towels the most wet.
9.  Dump the wet soil from cup A onto one stack of towels.  Repeat this step with
    each of the other cups onto the other stacks of towels.
10. Compare the wetness of the three stacks of towels.

Questions:

1.  When the water had stopped draining, which jar contained the most water?
    Which jar contained the least?
2.  Which type of soil seemed to hold the most water?  Which type of soil seemed 
    to hold the least amount of water?                                     
3.  When the wet soil from each cup was dumped onto the paper towels, which 
    stack of towels was most wet?  Which stack of towels was the least wet?
4.  Which type of soil held the most water?

Evaluation:

Students should be able to measure accurately and to interpret data.

Conclusion:

Evergreen needles make the soil porous and improve drainage.