Soil Analysis in the Laboratory

Dependence of the soil temperature on the structure and wa-ter content of the soil

Principle

This experiment covers the separation and analysis of traces of sand, clay and humus in soil. These substances, both mineral and organic, appear in various types of soil and have a major effect on soil properties. The quantity of humus is the basis for the ...

Humidity preferendum of soil arthropods

Principle

Heat radiated by a lamp gradually causes soil to dry out. That and the light emitted cause any creatures in a sample to burrow to the bottom where they are sieved into a funnel and collected inside a vessel. The vessel contains moist filter paper in order to capture ...

Influence of temperature on the germination and growth of cress

Eight petri dishes are filled nearly to the brim with finely sieved, moist garden soil and 50 cress seeds are planted in each one. They are then placed inside a device which keeps each of the samples at a different temperature, whereby they are evenly distributed between cold and warm regio ...

The pH value of various soils

Principle

Demonstration experiment using wireless data communication to send readings to a large-size display. Knowledge of soil characteristics is highly important for agriculture.  To familiarise students with this topic, two sub-experiments use pH readings t ...

Salinity of soils and plant substrates

Principle

Demonstration experiment using wireless data communication to send readings to a large-size display. How suitable are certain soils and plant substrates in terms of plant nutrition? This experiment is concerned with the measurement of conductivity, which gives an in ...

Raised bog and fen

Principle

Bogs and fens are habitats of plants that are specialised in soils with constant excess water. Apart from this specialisation, bogs and fens differ significantly from each other. Raised bogs and fens, for example, have different plant communities, whi ...