Percent Organic Matter

       After we removed the soil from the drying oven we used it to preform our percent organic matter test. The soil had 20.8 grams of organic matter, which is 46.1%. We found this by weighing the recently dried soil and then placing it on a Bunsen burner for thirty minutes. After the thirty minutes we allowed the soil in the crucible to cool and then weighed it again. We then compared the weights to solve for the amount and percent of organic matter. Since we weighed the soil both before the Bunsen burner and after the Bunsen burner in the crucible, we did not need to weigh the soil alone.

This is our crucible filled with soil before it was placed on a Bunsen burner, it had a weight of 45.1 grams.

This was our crucible filled with soil on a Bunsen burner, where is was heated at a high temperature for thirty minutes.

This is our crucible filled with soil after it has been removed from the Bunsen burner, cooled, and placed on the scale, after the heating it weighed 24.3 grams.

 

These were our calculations for total organic material and for the percent organic material.

 

       Organic material is extremely important in soil for many reasons. Some of these reasons are that it helps nourish the soil, it increases a soils ability to hold water, and it gives the soil better structure. It helps nourish the soil by adding many nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Organic mater also assists in soils ability to hold water because it is usually a very absorbent substance. It also helps with soil structure by causing soil to clump more, which is very important in creating space in soil for substances like water and gasses.