EXERCISE No. 53 

 PERCOLATION OF WATER 



Object: To show the percolation, or downward pressure, 

 of water. 



Material : Lamp chimneys, soils, and cheese cloth. 



Method : Fill a lamp chimney (closed at the bottom with 

 a piece of cheese cloth tied tightly over it) with some of the 

 soils to be tested. Fill another lamp chimney with another 

 kind of soil. Pour water upon the top of each column of 

 soil and note the percolation of the water through it. 



Conclusion : Does the water stay in the tubes? In which 

 one does it pass through more quickly? In which one least 

 quickly? Compare various kinds of soil in this respect. 

 Measure the amount of water percolated through each 

 chimney in half an hour. 



What can you say about the power of sand to hold rain 

 which falls upon it? Its power to take up moisture from 

 below? Why is it well to run a roller over a sandy soil? 

 Why is water more likely to run off the surface of a clay soil 

 than of a sandy soil? What may be done to the sand to 

 make it hold water better ?... 



90 



