Science Project “How Soil Erodes” Complete Projects on Air, Water, Weather and Temperature for Class 8, 9, 10 and 12 Students.

How Soil Erodes

What happens if you water a flower bed, without attaching a sprinkler on the end of the garden hose? The soil will probably scatter out of the bed, leaving big holes behind. This is why people use sprinkling cans and hoses to water flower pots and gardens. “Erosion” is the process by which soil is washed away from the surface of the earth, by the action of water.

It is especially worse on a hillside. Let us assume, the faster the speed of water, the higher the amount of erosion. We can study this by filling three bowls with cereal to the surface and take a half-gallon pitcher with water. Find a small staircase of five steps, outside your house. Place a bowl of cereal on the ground near the first step and keep the pitcher on the edge of the step. Tip the pitcher slowly over the cereal bowl, so that water falls from a certain height and  fills the bowl, spilling some of its contents.

 Now fill the pitcher again and place it on the third step. Set the second bowl of cereal on the ground beneath the third step and tip the pitcher over it. Repeat this with the third bowl only.

This time the pitcher should be on the fifth step. Gravitational force pulls an object towards the earth faster. The higher the altitude of the falling object, the faster it comes down. Water poured from the fifth step will fall faster than when water poured from the first step.

Now examine each of the bowls carefully and make a note of, in which one has the maximum erosion (of the cereal) taken place.

You can try pouring water from an even greater height, if there are more than five steps.

You can also measure the weight of the eroded cereal by drying them first in a tray or a cookie sheet. Leave them a treat for the neighbourhood animals.

Place a bowl of soil outside, when there is a downpour. Note what occurs during a rainstorm. You can test with different types of soil and check if there is a difference in the way the erosion takes place.