Porosity And Permeability Essay

Module 3 Porosity and Permeability Lab three tests and discusses the porosity and permeability of four soil samples. Three out of the four samples are provided with the lab kit and one is student supplied. The provided samples are gravel, sand, and potting soil. For the fourth, students are to provide a soil sample from their own property. The test for porosity use 100ml of water and 100ml of soil for each test. The amount of water it takes to fill the sample’s voids is called the porosity and is dictated in a percentage format. The permeability test uses 25ml of soil sample and 50ml of water for each sample test. The individual soil samples are put into a filter and then timed on how long water takes filter through the sample. This

Because of these ample pores and high drainage rate, contaminated water passes unfiltered. When this unfiltered water pass through the gravel, it introduces contamination into aquifers and can cause the entirety of the aquifers to become polluted.

Lab 3-A: Soil Permeability Permeability is the process of a liquid or gas passing through another substance. In this labs case, it is the time and the rate at which water passes through varied soil samples. Different soil samples were used, including gravel, sand, potting soil, and soil from my front yard. All four had varied permeability and drainage rates when subjected to the lab experiment. The sample that had the highest permeability was the gravel. Because the size and abundance of pores in the gravel sample, water passed through it, almost, unimpeded. The pores of the rocks that composed the gravel sample did retain 16 percent, or 8ml, of the 50ml of water used. In addition, these large pores allowed a drainage rate of .186, which was the quickest of any of the samples in this experiment. If the pores were smaller, water would permeate slower and have a higher water retention