The Mystery of Soil and Oil

1. As you explore water absorption and percolation rates in different kinds of soil, what are your thoughts about how water could move oil pollution through sand, clay, humus or a mixture of these soil types?

2. Which type of soil (sand, clay or humus) absorbs or holds the most water? How might this affect the amount of oil that could reach ground water?

3. Look at your soil sample observation table and explain how the properties might determine how much water is held by each soil type.

Please share your thinking with us. Put your first name & initial at the top of your comment!

This entry was posted in Oil Pollution in Bridgeport. Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to The Mystery of Soil and Oil

  1. David T says:

    1. I think sand can go through oil pollution because sand has spaces, which can easily go through. 2. I think clay can absorb tons of amount of water because in my experiments, the clay drops tiny amount of water in the cylinder. 3. Looking through in my soil samples observation table, I see that clay holds tons of amount of water because clay is thick, and clay is as well clumpy.

  2. natalie c says:

    I agree with Justin.E completly but also clay can not let any liquids pass through.So it is a very thick material that when wet stays completly together not leting anything seak through. So its not so easy its not at all.

  3. Justin E says:

    1. Pollution moves through sand, clay, and top soil not too quickly. Liquids go through top soil easily. Liquids go through clay not to easily because clay is very absorbant.
    2. Clay holds the most liquids because in my experiment out of all the soils, clay allwoed the least amount of water to go through. If ground water were to be underneathe clay it would eventually be absorbed.
    3. I think soil factors that determine how much water it canabsorb depends on what it is used for. Clay is meant to be wet so it absorbs a lot of water. Sand and top soil aren’t made to absorb water so they don’t absorb so much. Sand is to grainy and doesn’t absorb much and top soil has sticks and pebbles mixed in and doesn’t absorb a lot of liquids.

  4. najee h says:

    1. i think water can move pollution because i know it can travel through soil.
    2. clay is the one that it is holds the most water because it is very thick. i think thats also it because it absorbs water, and the water is mostly going to stay in the clay.
    3. i think that the clumpiness might contribute to the amout of the water that is held by the soil type.

  5. Natalie.C says:

    1. I believe that the oil would go straight through the sand fast and spread quickly because the sand is very thin.I believe since when the clay gets wet it clumps up together no oil will go under. the humus will probably get a little oil to go through it since it is not so thick or so thin.

    2. The clay absorbs more because when wet it sticks together. clay cannot let the oil seak through since it is so thick it abaorbs it. The clay since it is thick it will not allow the oil to reach any of the ground water

  6. TJ says:

    1)I think that the clay would not be good because it would absorb the water and the oil pollution, but water and oil don’t mix, so the clay might crack from the inside.

    2)The clay absorbs the most water, but it might not absorb the pollutant as well. If the clay is not cracked, it might be able to protect the ground water.

    3)I think that the materials mixed in affects how much water is absorbed in all because it could be non-absorbant or bio-degradable.

  7. Elijah R says:

    This is a comment on # 2. I think the clay would absorb the most of the water and it would also absorb the the most pollution.

    • Mrs. Andrews says:

      Good thinking Elijah. But what happened to numbers 1 & 3?

    • David T says:

      I agree with Elijah that clay would absorb the most of the water because clay is very thick, which doesn’t allow any oil to reach to the ground water.