Soil and sand experiment
Soil and sand experiment
Things needed-
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3 coffee cans or cups -
Moist garden soil
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Dry sand
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Black chart paper
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Tape
Directions-
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Label the three cups as cup 1, 2 and 3.
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Leave cup 1 dry and empty and place the chart paper on top of the can, and tape it around the edges.
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Fill half of cup 2 with moist garden soil and use the chart paper to cover it and tape the sides around the edges.
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Fill half of cup 3 with sand and use the chart paper to cover and tape it around the edges, similar to the previous cups.
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Place all the three cups in front of a sunny window and leave them there for a couple of hours.
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When you come back to observe, you will notice that the chart paper on top of cup 1 will remain dry and cup 2 will be wet. The chart paper on top of cup 3 will look moist.
How does this work?
The chart paper on top of cup 1 does not show any change as it does not contain anything inside it. The chart paper on top of cup 2 is wet indicating that it holds a lot of water. Water is essential for plant growth and therefore we see a lot of plants growing on garden soil. The chart paper on cup 3 looks slightly moist because it does not hold as much water as the garden soil. This is the reason why we find very few plants growing in places that have sand i.e. a desert, as it cannot hold lots of water to support plant growth.
