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Biology Lab 3 PH of Soil

The document details an experiment to determine the pH of three soil samples - sand, loam and clay. Loam had a pH of 4, sand had a pH of 6, and clay had a pH of 2.

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20 views

Biology Lab 3 PH of Soil

The document details an experiment to determine the pH of three soil samples - sand, loam and clay. Loam had a pH of 4, sand had a pH of 6, and clay had a pH of 2.

Uploaded by

judahthememer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DATE: November 3rd,2022

SUBJECT: CXC Biology


PRACTICAL#: 3
TITLE: FINDING THE pH OF SOIL
AIM: To determine the pH of three different soil samples.

DIAGRAM OF APPARATUS

METHOD
1. Three test-tubes were labeled, SAND, CLAY, LOAM
2. A small sample of each soil was placed into the correct test-tubes.
3. Then distilled water was poured into the test-tubes until they were half full
4. Corks were placed in the mouth of the test-tube and shaken vigorously.
5. Then filter paper was added and a filter funnel into the test tubes.
6. A dropper was used to add universal indicator was added to each of the test-tubes.
7. Then the color changes that occurred were compared to the pH color Chart

OBSERVATION
TABLE SHOWING PH OF CLAY, LOAM AND SAND

SOIL TYPE COLOUR PH OF SOIL


Sand Yellow Weak Acid (6)
Loam Orange- Yellow Weak Acid (4)
Clay Orange Strong Acid (2)

DISCUSSION

pH is the measure of alkalinity or acidity of a substance. The pH scale begins at 0 and ends at 14.
pH 0-3 describe strong acids; pH 4-6 are weak acids. 7 is neutral (like pure water); ph 8-10 are
weak alkali (bases); pH 11-14 are strong alkali. Different soils have different pH values
depending on what makes them up, the types of rainfall or fertilizers they get or what lives or
died in them. Different plants have preferences for soil of various pH ranges. For example,
potatoes grow best in a pH pf 4.5-6.0, while cabbages grow best in pH 6.0-7.5. The pH of soil
affects how well a plant will take up nutrients from the soil, so soil pH can be the difference
between healthy and struggling plants.
A farmer can use this knowledge of pH soil to place plants in ideal and suitable soil so that they
can grow healthy crops with good yield. Examples of this are tomatoes which best grow in soil
that is 6.2-6.8 pH and oranges which grow in 6.0 – 7.0 pH soil.

CONCLUSION:
1. Loam had a pH of 4.
2. Sand had a pH of 6.
3. Clay had a pH of 2.

LIMITATIONS:
1. One limitation is that the amount of universal indicator added could affect the result, so
if the person putting the universal indicator added to much, it could affect the final result.

2. Another limitation is that the persons getting the result might not have the best vision or
be slightly color blind.

PRECAUTIONS:
1. Add an equal amount of universal indictor to each one.
2. One way to be sure of your results is to get many people to confirm the color of your
results to make sure that you record the right answer

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