Page 41 - FOUNDATIONS FOR LIFE; EXPLORING GOD’S UNIVERSE

Science - Y5 – Living and non-living things – week 10
SOW ON FERTILE SOIL

Experiment 1

Useful vocabulary: sediment, solution, filtration.

1. Work in pairs

2. Collect your equipment:- Two transparent containers of the same size
One large transparent container
Plastic cups (one for each soil)
Round tent pegs or skewers
A pair of compasses
A sharp-pointed pair of scissors
A plastic dessert spoon
Several different soils

3. Make four holes in the bottom of the two plastic cups like north, south, east and west positions. Keep
the holes the same size, about ¼ to ½ cm wide.

Suspend one of these cups in an upright position over the larger container using the tent peg or skewer
pushed through the top of the cup.

Skewer or peg

Large container

Small cup
with 4 holes in the bottom

4. Put 5 teaspoons of sand in the suspended cup.
Pour a measured amount of water (eg ½ litre) through the sand, allowing one minute for the water to
drain though.

5. Measure the amount of water that drained through in a minute.

6. Repeat with plastic pots of different soils.

7. Compare the water that has drained through for each soil.

8. Which soils are permeable? Which are impermeable?

9. Record your results in a clear way using tables.

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