PROJECT TITLE:

Capillarity of Soils

Aim:

To compare the rise of water by capillarity in sand, clay, and loam.

Materials Required:

Procedure:

Pack 3 long glass tubes tightly with dry sand, clay, and loam soil. One end of each is plugged with glass wool and all are immersed vertically in a large vessel containing water. Observations are made on the levels of the water as it rises in the tubes of soil.

Observation:

At first the water rises by capillarity fastest in the sand, followed by the loamy soil, and is slowest in the clay soil. But after a day or two, the water fails to rise any farther in the sand, whereas in the clay it continues to rise until it reaches the top of the tube while the level in the loam continues to be intermediate but may later reach the top of the tube as in the clay.

Inference:

Clay soil has the highest capillarity, followed by loam and then sandy soil.