Texture Test

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What We're Doing

In this activity, you will determine the composition of your soil by feeling the texture of the soil. You will then use your data to classify the soil as sand, silt, or clay.

Why We're Doing It

A soil's texture affects the amount of space available for the air and water needed by the creatures that live there. By determining the texture of soil, you can learn about its structure and how much space is available for living things.

Making the connection:

• By doing this activity with Soil Biodiversity, you can see the relationship between soil texture and the kinds of creatures living in the soil.
• By doing this activity with the Soil Temperature Test, Compaction Test, the Percolation Test, and Mud Shake, you can learn about the composition of the soil at your field site.

Getting Our Hands Dirty

Hypothesize

Is the soil at my field site mostly sand, silt, or clay?

Plan it!

• If you haven't already done so, choose a field site and map it in your field journal.
• Before going into the field, review the information about soil particles and texture on the Soil Properties Overview page.
• If you are working with a group or as a class, be sure to spread out over the field site. Each student or group of students should set up a quadrant within which to work. If you are doing this activity along with the Soil Temperature, Compaction, and Percolation tests, you should do all four activities in the same quadrant.

Do it!

1. Take a handful of soil from your quadrant and spray it with water until it is damp, but not soaking wet.
2. Rub the soil between your fingers and observe and feel its texture.
   • How does the soil feel? Is it sticky, slippery, or gritty?
   • Do the particles look and feel small, large, or somewhere in between?
   • Does the soil feel most like sand, silt, or clay?
3. Use the Texture-by-Feel Analysis of Soil worksheet to figure out what type of soil you have.
4. Return the soil to the ground when you have finished and use the wipes or damp paper towels to clean your hands.

Record it!

• On the Soil Properties Data worksheet , record the characteristics of your soil sample's texture.
• Add the worksheet to your field journal.

Remember, be sci-wise!

• Don't let your soil sample get too wet or it will be difficult to make an accurate observation.
• Be respectful of any creatures you find in the soil. Return them gently to the ground.

Thinking About It

• What do your data tell you about the composition of your soil? Is the soil from your sample mostly sand, silt, or clay? How do you know?
• Based on the data you collected, do you think your hypothesis was correct or incorrect? Why?
• How do your data compare with those of other students and from different areas of your field site?
• How do your data compare with those from the Mud Shake test? Did you expect the data to be the same or different? Why might they be the same? Different?
• How might the soil texture affect the types and numbers of creatures living in the soil? What data could you collect to help answer this question?
• Looking at the bigger picture, how might the data you collected here help you answer your research question?
• Fill in this section of the Soil Properties Overview worksheet .

The Texture-by-Feel Analysis of Soil worksheet is reprinted by permission of Carolina Biological Supply Company, Burlington, N.C.

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