¿Cómo afecta el suelo al pH del agua?
Abstracto
¿Sabías que los suelos pueden ser alcalinos, neutros o ácidos? La mayoría de las plantas crecen mejor
en suelos con un pH cercano al neutro, pero algunas plantas prefieren suelos ligeramente ácidos y otras
ligeramente alcalinos. ¿Cuál es el pH del suelo de tu jardín? ¿Qué sucede con el pH del agua que entra
en contacto con el suelo? En este proyecto científico podrás averiguarlo.
Resumen
ÁREAS DE LA CIENCIA
Geología de la ciencia ambiental
DIFICULTAD
MÉTODO
Método científico
TIEMPO REQUERIDO
Promedio (6-10 días)
PRERREQUISITOS
Ninguno
DISPONIBILIDAD DEL MATERIAL
Fácilmente disponible
COSTO
Promedio ($50 - $100)
SEGURIDAD
No hay problemas
CRÉDITOS
Terik Daly, Andrew Olson, Ph.D., y Teisha Rowland, Ph.D., compañeros científicos
Fuentes
Decelles, P. (2002). La escala de pH. Curso de Biología Virtual. Johnson County Community College.
Agencia de Protección Ambiental de los Estados Unidos (EPA). (sin fecha). Lluvia ácida . Consultado el 18 de
julio de 2018.
Science Buddies se compromete a crear contenido creado por científicos y educadores. Obtenga
más información sobre nuestro proceso y cómo utilizamos la IA.
Objetivo
Mide cómo el contacto con diferentes tipos de suelo cambia el pH del agua.
Introducción
El nivel de acidez o alcalinidad de un suelo es un indicador de su salud y de su idoneidad para el cultivo
de determinados tipos de plantas. La acidez y la alcalinidad se miden con una escala logarítmica
denominada pH. El pH se define como el logaritmo negativo de la concentración de iones de hidrógeno,
como se muestra en la ecuación 1 a continuación.
Ecuación 1:
pH = −log [H + ]
¿Qué significa la ecuación 1? Significa que por cada aumento de 1 unidad en el pH, la concentración de
iones de hidrógeno (H + ) disminuye diez veces. Por ejemplo, algo que tiene un pH de 6 tiene diez veces
más iones de hidrógeno que algo con un pH de 7, y 100 veces más iones de hidrógeno que algo con un
pH de 8, y así sucesivamente. El agua pura tiene un pH neutro de 7. Los valores de pH inferiores a 7 son
ácidos y los valores de pH superiores a 7 son alcalinos (básicos). La Tabla 1 a continuación tiene
ejemplos de sustancias con diferentes valores de pH. Para obtener más información sobre el pH,
también puede visitar la página web de Science Buddies sobre ácidos, bases y la escala de pH .
Concentración de H +
Valor de pH Ejemplo
relativa al agua pura
0 10 000 000 ácido de batería
1 1 000 000 ácido sulfúrico
2 100 000 jugo de limón, vinagre
3 10 000 jugo de naranja, soda
4 1 000 jugo de tomate, lluvia ácida
5 100 café negro, plátanos
6 10 orina, leche
7 1 agua pura
8 0,1 agua de mar, huevos
9 0,01 bicarbonato
10 0,001 Gran Lago Salado, leche de magnesia
11 0.000 1 solución de amoniaco
12 0.000 01 soapy water
13 0.000 001 bleach, oven cleaner
14 0.000 000 1 liquid drain cleaner
Table 1. This table shows examples of substances with different pH values. (Decelles, 2002;
Environment Canada, 2002; EPA, date unknown)
Soil, and all of Earth's other solid parts, together make up what is called the geosphere. As mentioned
earlier, the pH of a soil affects what plants can grow there. This is just one way in which the geosphere
interacts with the biosphere, which includes plants and all other life on Earth. Specifically, most plants
prefer soil that is near neutral pH. There are particular varieties (strawberries, azaleas and
rhododendrons, for example) that prefer acidic soil. Soil pH also influences how readily available many
soil nutrients are to plants. The geosphere and biosphere are constantly interacting with each other, and
with the hydrosphere, which includes all waters on Earth, such as in lakes, oceans, and the clouds.
In this geology science project, you will measure pH values of different types of soils, and you will see
how the soil affects the pH of water that comes in contact with it.
Terms and Concepts
pH
Neutral pH
Acidic
Alkaline or basic
Geosphere
Biosphere
Hydrosphere
Runoff water
Soil types
Soil texture
Questions
What value of pH is neutral? What ranges are acidic and basic?
Can you think of examples of ways in which the geosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere interact
with each other?
What is runoff water and why might it matter what the pH of that water is?
How do scientists identify different soil types?
Bibliography
These are good sources for learning more about pH:
Science Buddies Staff (2012). Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
These resources can help you learn about soil types and soil pH:
Bickelhaupt, Donald (2012). Soil pH: What it Means. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
BBC Staff (2012). How to be a Gardener: Analyzing Your Soil. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
Materials and Equipment
Places to gather different types of soil (3)
Small shovel or trowel for gathering soil samples
Ruler, metric
Sediment tubes with lids, 25 cm tall and 5 cm in diameter (9)
Small deli containers, like the kind sour cream or cottage cheese come in, also work.
Permanent marker
Small containers or cups, at least 3-oz. (3). They need not be identical.
Tap water
pH paper, with resolution of at least ±0.3 pH units and a range from 3 to 8 or a pH meter for liquids
You may need more than one set of pH paper to cover this range of pH values at ±0.3 pH unit
resolution. See Table 2 in the Acids, Bases, & the pH Scale for more help.
Soil pH meter, with a pH range of at least 3.5 to 9 and a resolution of ±0.1 pH units
Facial tissues or cotton balls (10)
Clock, timer, or stopwatch
Duct tape
Coffee filters (18)
Lab notebook
Experimental Procedure
This project follows the Scientific Method. Review the steps before you begin.
1. Do your background research so that you understand the terms, concepts, and questions, in the
"Background" tab.
2. Choose three different places to collect soil samples. You could choose places in your yard, a park,
a garden, or other location with easily accessible soil. Make sure to ask permission before
collecting samples, and be careful when collecting samples near bodies of water or roadways.
Picking places with soils that are as different as possible will allow you to see whether all soil
types behave the same or if soil pH and the pH of water runoff changes with soil type. Here are
some suggestions:
a. Look for soils with different colors and textures.
b. Look for differences in the kinds of plants growing in a place. Different plants prefer different
kinds of soils, so plant populations can be a clue to differences in soil type.
c. Try sampling different environments, such as a floodplain, beach, man-made garden, forest,
or desert.
3. Take notes in your lab notebook about the sites. Include information about the general area (your
yard, a park, the beach, a pine forest, etc.), and the kinds of plants (if any) growing in the area.
4. Collect three samples from each location so that you can run the experiment for three different
lengths of time. Remove the top 5 centimeters (cm) of the soil before collecting samples so you do
not get any plants or surface roots in your samples. Also remove any stones or other objects from
the sample
a. Put each sample in a separate sediment tube. You will need around 2 to 3 cups of soil for
each sample, depending on the size of your containers. Add soil to your containers until the
soil is 15 to 20 cm deep.
b. Label each tube using the permanent marker (e.g., "Soil from the riverbank, sample 1," "Soil
from the riverbank, sample 2," etc.).
c. Optional: Determine the soil texture for the soil from each location. Step 10 in the Procedure
of How Does Soil Change with Depth? has a good method for determining soil texture.
Record the soil texture for each location in your lab notebook.
5. When you are ready to start testing your samples, fill one of the small containers or cups with
about 4 cm of tap water. Use pH paper to measure the pH of the tap water, and record that value in
your notebook. Then discard the water (use it to water a plant, etc.).
a. Take a look at the directions that came with your particular pH paper. Some pH papers are
slightly different than others, but the general procedure is very similar:
i. Dip the piece of pH paper in the water, and then compare the color of the pH paper with
the color scale on the packaging. Find the closest match to the color of the pH paper;
the pH value associated with that color is the pH of your water sample.
b. Note: You are investigating how the pH of water changes as it interacts with soil. To know
how the soil changes the pH of water, you have to know the pH of the water before it mixes
with the soil
6. Read the instructions for your soil pH meter to learn how to use it properly. Make sure you follow
any instructions for calibrating the pH meter before using it.
7. Use the soil pH meter to measure the pH of each of the nine soil samples. Create a data table in
your lab notebook to record the data.
8. Clean the soil pH meter.
9. Now you will investigate how the pH of water changes after it interacts with the soil samples for 1
hour. First, add more water to one of the sediment tubes from each site, until the soil is completely
saturated and a layer of water about 1 cm deep forms above the surface of the soil.
10. Cap each of the tubes, and securely seal the cap with a piece of duct tape. Mix each of the tubes
thoroughly by covering the cap with your hand and then vigorously shaking the tube for one
minute.
a. Warning: Make sure the cap is securely sealed with duct tape and that your hand covers the
cap as you shake the tube. The muddy mixture of soil and water will make a big mess if it
escapes the sediment tube. So, shake the tubes vigorously, but cautiously. It may be best to
do this step outside.
11. Write the time on the sediment tube using a permanent marker. Make sure the outside of the tube
is dry before writing on it. You will come back to these samples in one hour.
12. Meanwhile, prepare three runoff-filtering containers.
a. Put a coffee filter on top of each of the three, empty small containers or cups.
b. For each container, fold the edges of the coffee filter over the edges of the container and tape
the folded-over edges to the container with duct tape. Make sure to leave the top surface of
the filter un-taped.
13. After the sediment tubes have sat for one hour, remove the duct tape and cap slowly from the
tubes. Slowly and carefully pour the water from the tubes onto the filters over the runoff-filtering
containers. The water from each sediment tube should go into its own container, and you should
keep track of which runoff samples are in which runoff-filtering containers. It is okay if some soil
comes out while you are pouring off the water—that is why the filter is there! Let the water
percolate though the filter.
14. Once most of the water from the soil in the sediment tubes has been filtered, re-cap the sediment
tubes.
15. Carefully remove the filter paper from the runoff-filtering containers by removing the tape and
holding the filter by its edges, being careful not to allow soil or unfiltered water to fall into the
filtered water.
16. Use pH paper to measure and record the pH of the filtered run-off water. Record the pH values in
your lab notebook, adding the data to your data table and being sure to note which values
correspond to which soil samples. Rinse out the containers when you are done.
17. Calculate the difference in the pH of the tap water you measured in step 5 and the pH of each
runoff you measured in step 16. This is how much the pH of the water changed after mixing with
the soil for one hour. Record the difference in the data table in your lab notebook.
18. Repeat steps 9–17, but let the soil and water mix for one day and then two days, instead of one
hour. You will need to vigorously shake the sediment tubes every few hours to re-mix the soil and
water.
19. How did the pHs of different soil types compare to each other? Did any of the soils change the pH
of the water? If so, by how much and how is that affected by the length of time the water mixes
with the soil?
Global Goals
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better and
more sustainable future for all.
This project explores topics key to Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and
improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Variations
For soils with pH that is more acidic or more basic than your tap water: if you keep watering the
soil sample, does the pH of water eventually stop changing? Has the pH of the soil changed? How
much water did it take? Does this vary with soil type? What does this tell you about irrigation and
soil pH?
How does the addition of fertilizer affect soil pH? Does the fertilizer type matter? Do background
research on fertilizers and pH and then devise an experiment to test fertilizer-induced pH changes.
Use an aquarium test kit to check nitrate levels in water drained from soil pots with and without
fertilizer. Be sure to check a sample of the plain tap water too, as a control. Is there less nitrate run-
off when plants are growing in the pots?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If you are having trouble with this project, please read the FAQ below. You may find the answer to your
question.
Q: How do I use my soil pH meter?
A: Soil pH meters come with instructions that you must read carefully and follow closely to collect
accurate data. Every soil pH meter may be slightly different, so it is important to read and follow the
directions. Here is an overview about how to use the RapiTest Digital Soil pH meter in the Science
Buddies kit:
a. Press the Power Button to turn the meter on and off. When you turn the meter on, its default
reading is 7.
b. To measure soil pH, slowly add tap water to the soil in the sediment tube until the soil is damp, but
before water starts to pool on the sample's surface.
c. Use the green pad that came with the meter to shine the long, narrow probe of the meter, but not
the bullet-shaped tip. Use a facial tissue or cotton ball to wipe the probe from tip to handle.
d. Gently put the probe in the soil in the center of the sediment tube.
e. With the probe in the soil, twist the meter back-and-forth so that soil can attach to the probe.
Twisting the probe is important to getting accurate measurements.
f. Wait for 60 seconds. Then,
i. If the pH is above 7, remove the probe, clean it with a new facial tissue or cotton ball, shine it
with the green pad, re-insert the probe, and wait for 30 seconds. The measurement you read
after 30 seconds is the pH of the soil. Record this in your lab notebook.
ii. If the pH is below 7, remove the probe, clean it with a new facial tissue or cotton ball, do not
shine it, re-insert the probe, and wait for 30 seconds. The measurement you read after 30
seconds is the pH of the soil. Record this in your lab notebook.
Q: I am always getting a reading of 7 from my soil pH meter. What should I do?
A: If you are always getting a pH reading of 7 it is probably because you are not using the pH meter
correctly. Re-read the instructions that came with the pH meter and make sure to follow them exactly.
For the meter included in the Science Buddies kit, not twisting the meter and not waiting for the
appropriate amount of time are the most common causes of a constant pH 7 reading.
Q: The filter in the runoff-filtering containers ripped, and unfiltered water or soil fell into the container.
What should I do?
A: This is an easy problem to solve. Create a new runoff-filtering container and simply re-filter the water.
Ask an Expert
Si tiene otras preguntas sobre el procedimiento o necesita ayuda para solucionar problemas de su
proyecto o del procedimiento experimental, publique su pregunta en el foro de este kit en Ask an Expert:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=74 . Nuestro equipo de
expertos voluntarios está disponible para ayudar. Intentamos responder a las preguntas en un plazo de
24 horas. Tenga en cuenta que necesitará una cuenta gratuita de Ask an Expert para poder publicar
preguntas.
Carreras
Si te gusta este proyecto, es posible que te interese explorar estas carreras relacionadas:
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El suelo y el agua son dos de los recursos naturales
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conservacionistas del suelo y el agua fomentan la
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naturales. Los científicos trabajan para descubrir,
desarrollar, implementar y mejorar constantemente las
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productiva y mejoran el medio ambiente al mismo tiempo. Los conservacionistas del suelo y el agua
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Científico del suelo In Demand
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No todos los tipos de suelo son iguales. De hecho, los
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arenoso puede derrumbarse durante un terremoto y
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adecuadamente pueden quedar inundados y pudrirse
después de una tormenta. El trabajo de un científico
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vehículos. Los automóviles, los autobuses y las
motocicletas contaminan el aire, lo que afecta a
nuestra salud. Pero, ¿puede la contaminación afectar a
algo más que a nuestra salud? La tala de árboles o la
deforestación pueden contribuir a la erosión, que
arrastra la valiosa capa superficial del suelo. Pero, ¿puede la erosión alterar algo más que la
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Enlaces relacionados
Guía de proyectos para la feria de ciencias
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Ideas para proyectos de ciencias ambientales
Ideas para proyectos de geología
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Personal de Science Buddies. "¿Cómo afecta el suelo al pH del agua?" Science Buddies , 13 de octubre
de 2022, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-
ideas/EnvSci_p013/environmental-science/how-does-soil-affect-the-ph-of-water. Consultado el 12 de
septiembre de 2024.
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Personal de Science Buddies. (13 de octubre de 2022). ¿Cómo afecta el suelo al pH del agua?
Recuperado de https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-
ideas/EnvSci_p013/environmental-science/how-does-soil-affect-the-ph-of-water
Fecha de última edición: 2022-10-13
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