Water content and Specific Gravity on soil sample from the laboratory

MEMORANDUM

To: Dr. Jonathan Wu Date: January 27th 2017
From: Diego Sandoval-Torres
Subject: Water content and Specific Gravity on soil sample from the laboratory.

Sample Description:

The soil used in the experiment was obtained from a larger sample in the
laboratory. The sample showed various grain size from clay all the way to pebbles. The soil was
moist and had a brown to dark brown color to it. No actual organic components in the soil could
be visible to the naked eye.

Test Purpose:

The purpose of this laboratory test is to be able to calculate and determine the
amount of water in a given sample of dirt. This result is given in percent, which helps understand
the concentration of water for soil mechanics. We also use the specific gravity equation to find
its specific gravity of the solid soil.

Test Results:

After going through the procedure for the laboratory, we remeasured the soil after
leaving it for more than 16 hrs. in the oven. The amount of soil alone used in the experiment was
of 0.26-lb. We used the water content equation to come up with a number in percent (lb/lb) w=
65% water.

Gs=2.9 Specific gravity of the soil sample used in the calculation of the water content part.

Remarks:

One of the problems which concerned me as we were doing the experiment is the air
content in the sample as we mixed the soil and the water. This could have altered the total mass
measured, since we tried to remove much of the air bubbles and yet were not fully successful.
There was also a possible precision error as we filled the bottle with water to a certain mark, our
initial water level kept being a little over the mark which meant more water was being utilize.