Environmental Science Projects

Soil has a pH level.  Does that change when the soil is watered?

Get a  pH meter at a garden supply department of wal-mart or a nursery.

Get different kinds of dirt. Get 6 cups and put a different dirt in each cup.  Put the pH meter in each cup and record the pH level in your log.  Now add the same kind and amount of water to each cup.  Mix well and wait for the soil to settle down.  Now measure the pH level in each cup and record this. 

Your hypothesis could be that you determine pH will be affected by adding water and maybe which kind of soil is affected the most.

Does the kind of soil affect how plants grow?

Get 6 pots and put different types of soil or dirt in each one.  Now plant the same plant in each one.  You need to keep a log of each pot.  How high is each one, how many leaves.  Now every day make sure the pots are in the same spot and get the exact same about of water, light and temperature.  Every day record how tall and wide and plants are, how many leaves they have, the number of flowers each has, etc. 

Your hypothesis could be that you determine plants grow best in one of the kinds of soil.

Soil Erosion Science Project:

Are some soils affected differently by water running over them?

Did you know that many farmers have to water their crops because they don’t have enough rain.  This watering causes soil erosion which means the soil gets washed away.  Wouldn’t it be good to determine which soil is the best and does not wash away as easily as others.

You will want to find sections of different kinds of dirt.  Some that are light.  Get some dirt from a hill and some from a low lying spot.  Get some where there aren’t many plants and one with more plants.

In each site take a 2 liter soda bottom that has the top cut off and dig an area to bury the bottle.  Bury it so that the top of the bottle is a little below the dirt.

After it rains you can weigh the dirt that is in each container.  Record this in your log book.  You will want to dry this dirt before you weigh it.  The soil with the most dirt has the most erosion.  You may want to compare this as well and see if some soil weighs more than others.