Question

How do scientists measure the porosity of soil?

Answer 1

Hint :We know that Soil is the upper layer of the earth. Soil is composed of various types of mineral particles. The soil formation is the result from the degradation of the basement rock, due to certain physical, chemical and biological processes

Complete Step By Step Answer:
This is a medium that typically consists of organic dust or junk, clay and mineral particles but there’s also other components to soil, those are essential for life. The porosity of soil is the volume of space in between the mineral particles of soil. Porosity varies greatly from one kind of soil to another because the grains of soil are loosely or densely packed.
To calculate the porosity of a soil sample, determine the volume of the empty spaces between particles by seeing how much water it takes to fill all those little pores. Here is one method to find the porosity of soil.
 $ Porosity\text{ }=\text{ }\dfrac{Pore\text{ }Volume}{Total\text{ }Volume}\text{ = }\dfrac{Pore\text{ }Volume}{Sample\text{ }Volume\text{ }+\text{ }Pore\text{ }Volume}\text{ }\times \text{ }100% $
It can be written as; $ Pt=\dfrac{Vp}{Vs+Vp}\times 100% $

Additional Information:
Humus makes the soil more porous and improves the soil aeration. It’s able to absorb certain toxic elements and it helps to increase the nutrients and water holding capacity of soil. It acts like binding the particles together and preventing them washing or blowing away. Humus can determine the structure and fertility of the soil. Humus is also rich in microorganisms.

Note :
Remember that Humus soil provides a large amount of nutrients including metals and minerals to the plants. And it contains a range of microorganisms which break down the plant waste and help the roots to absorb the nutrients from the soil. These two main functions of humus soil help the plant to grow more easily.