Soil-Garden

Team Members

Siow Zi Hao (Group Leader) 1A2Regan Tan 1A2Ravn Teo 1A2Richie Chua 1A2

Group ID: 1004

What we will be covering in this powerpoint

Some Information on Rain GardensHypothesis and objectivesMaterials usedExperimental set-upVariablesLimitationsSteps to carry out experimentResults ConclusionReflections Sources

So, what is a Rain Garden?The rain garden is a shallow depression that is usually positioned near a runoff source like a downspout, driveway, sump pump or roof.

It is positioned there to slow down the rush of water from these hard surfaces.

The rain garden holds the water for a while before allowing the water to infiltrate the ground naturally.

This will help to prevent floods aswater could not be retained on the surface of the ground.

Native plants are usually planted on rain gardens as they can survive well without fertilizers.

These native plants have elaborate root systems that create channels into the soil, causing it to absorb more water readily.

More about Rain Gardens

This rain gardens improve water quality as it filters the runoff from the roof, driveway etc. , recharging the ground water.

Rain gardens not only help to ease floods, filter water, rain gardens can also be used to beautify the environment.

But, for these to happen, which soil can cause these to happen?

After research, we came up with a few points.

So, what are the advantages of a rain garden?

Just to RecapThe Purpose of our experiment

To find out which soil is retains the least amount of water

Hypothesis of our experiment

Sandy soil retains the least amount of water.

Our Experiment

Items that we used in the experiment

3 Soils: clay, humus, sandy10 – 1.5 litres coke bottles1 measuring cylinder1 stopwatch3 beakers1 laboratory thermometer10 filter cloth (tap filters)10 filter funnels1 retort stand1 tripod stand

Our experimental set-up

Level at which soil is filled up to

Soil

Coke bottleMouth of bottle covered with filter cloth\

Retort stand to hold coke bottle

Beaker where water will be poured from

Filter funnel

Beaker for collection of water

28 degrees Celsius(Air-conditioner on)

Level at which soil is filled up to

Soil

Coke bottleMouth of bottle covered with filter cloth\

Retort stand to hold coke bottle

Beaker where water will be poured from

Filter funnel

Beaker for collection of water

Control set-up28 degrees celcius(Air-conditioner on)

Our experimental set-up

Independent variable: •Type of soil

Dependent variable: •Amount of water that will pass through soil

Controlled variables:•Size of hole in the container containing soil• Amount of water poured• Amount of soil• Size of containers• Duration of experiment

Variables

Limitations of this experiment

• The temperature of the surroundings (Science Lab)

•The humidity of the room

•Angle at which the water is being

•Temperature of soil

Procedures to carry out the experiment1. Firstly, label 3 - 1.5 Coke bottles with A, B and C.

2. Next, fill A, B and C with sandy soil, clayey soil and humus soil respectively

3. Pour 200 ml of water through the bottom of the A

4. Start the stopwatch at the same time.

5. Stop after 2 minutes and record the amount of water in the beaker

6. Repeat steps 3-5 two more times for A and 3 times each for B and C.

Our results

Sandy

Clayey

Humus

Control 150 ml ( all the water flowed through before 2 minutes)

Reading 1 Reading 2 Reading 3 Average

80.0ml 79.0ml 81.0ml 80.0ml

62.0ml 60.0ml 59.0ml 60.5ml

38.0ml 33.0ml 35.0ml 35.5ml

Std deviation

1.00

1.53

2.52

std error

0.58

0.88

1.46

T-test

0.004

0.002

0.001

Graph

1st attempt 3rd attempt

30 ml

40ml

50ml

60ml

70ml

80ml

90ml

LEGEND - Humus

- Clayey soil

- Sandy soil

average

38ml33ml 35ml 35.5ml

62ml

79ml

59ml 60.5ml

80ml

60ml

81ml 80ml

20 ml

10 ml

0

100ml

140ml

120ml130ml

150ml

110ml

2nd attempt

- Control

150ml

ConclusionFrom our experiment, we found out that water flows through Sandy soil at the highest rate as compared to the other soil types.

Therefore, Sandy soil should be used at a greatest amount than humus and clayey soil for the building of a rain garden.

Sandy soil is not used used only as there is hardly any water and nutrients in the soil, thus plants will not grow well.

We learnt many things during the process. One of the valuable lessons is that teamwork is crucial for a project to be successful. Teamwork is also needed to make our own experimental set-up. Without teamwork, I doubt that we would have finished our experimental set-up in time.

Reflections

ConclusionA little clayey soil is needed so the plants would not behave as if they were in a clay-bottomed pot and stay at the top layer soil and as a result, water would not move through the soil as fast as it should be.

A bit of humus is needed to provide some nutrients for the plants as sandy soil hardly contain any nutrients.

Although this 2 soils retain a lot of water, the rate of infiltration will not be greatly affected.

After our experiment, we would recommend that the government should build rain gardens and should plant more trees around areas prone to floods. These will probably reduce the impact of floods or even prevent floods as water could not be retained.

The government also should not worry about problems of mosquitoes breeding in the rain gardens as the water should infiltrate the soil naturally by the end of 2 days.

Recommendation

Thank you very much for your kind attention!

Sourceshttp://nricd.org/Lesson_7_Experiment.pdfhttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-soil-drainage.htmhttp://www.for-wild.org/download/rainclay/rainclay.htmlhttp://organicgardening.about.com/od/soil/a/improveclaysoil.htmhttp://www.rain.org/global-garden/soil-types-and-testing.htmhttp://ag.arizona.edu/turf/tips1095.htmlhttp://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/exper1/exper1.htmhttp://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/soil/name_soil.htmlhttp://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/soil/name_soil.html