October 22-26 in AP Environmental

This has been a productive and interesting week in APES.  For the majority of the week, we worked in our lab groups on five different lab activities about Soil Productivity.  Ms. Bergeron received this huge lab from Carolina Biological last week, and we were excited to put it to use.

- First, we completed a pre-lab activity about soil productivity and discussed it in class

- Next, we split into our lab groups and began working on the five activities/labs in the Soil Productivity Handbook

- The First Activity we did tested the water-holding capacity and capillary action of various soils (sand, clay, humus, and a sample we collected outside the classroom) - data

- The Second Activity required us to analyze the ion exchange capacity of our soil types using positively-charged Crystal Violet (left) and negatively-charged Eosin Y (right) - data

- Our Third Activity involved analyzing the amount of free ions (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium in our case) in our collected soil sample and how that related to pH - data

- In the Fourth Activity, we poured water into the soil samples to determine their permeability (percolation rate) - data

- In our Fifth and Final Activity, we measured the particle size distribution of our collected soil sample by mixing the soil with water and letting it settle - data

I believe that that this set of experiments was excellent for determining the overall productivity of our soil sample, which our class decided had several characteristics of good quality soil. After completing the lab, we worked together in class finishing the accompanying questions.

While this lab took up most of our week, our class still had time to take our midterm on Friday, which we reviewed for some on Thursday.