How Full is Full?
Students learn about porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. They use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the data to understand how environmental engineers decide on the placement and treatment of a drinking water well.
Students conduct an investigation of soil sample porosity and permeabilityCopyright Wikimedia Commons http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Well_sorted_vs_poorly_sorted_porosity.png
Engineers test to find the porosity and permeability of a soil as part of determining the best location to dig an aquifer well for drinking water. Engineers also develop technologies to treat drinking water sources if they have been contaminated by harmful germs and chemical spills.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Make predictions and use appropriate tools to conduct an investigation of soil sample porosity and permeability.
- Use data based on observations to determine scientific relationships of soil and groundwater.
- Compare data collected in the lab to what happens in nature.
- Explain why engineers need to measure the porosity and permeability of different soils.