The experiment may also be made by packing the soil by gently jolting it
in a glass tube six to eight centimeters in diameter. One end of the
tube is closed with a piece of metal or fine wire gauze painted with
lamp black and is exposed to the source of heat. The bulb of a
thermometer is placed at a given distance from the end of the tube and
the time for the mercury to be affected observed.
COHESION AND ADHESION OF SOILS.
=118. Behavior of Soil After Wetting.=—The deportment of a soil when
thoroughly wet in respect of its physical state on drying out is a
matter of great practical concern to the agronomist. Some soils on
becoming dry fall into a pulverulent state and are easily brought into
proper tilth; others become hard and tenacious, breaking into clods and
resisting ordinary methods of pulverization. The physical laws which
determine these conditions depend largely on the principles of
flocculation soon to be described. The present task is to describe
briefly some of the methods of estimating the force of cohesion and
adhesion.
=119. General Method.=—The fine earth, air-dried, is mixed with enough
water to make a paste and molded into forms suitable for trial in a
machine for testing strength of cement, etc. The forms most used are
cakes three to five centimeters in length and one to two centimeters
thick. These are used for determining crushing power. For longitudinal
adhesion the paste may be molded in prismatic or cylindrical shape.[78]
The prisms should show one to two centimeters in cross section or the
cylinder be one to two centimeters in diameter. Before use they are to
be exposed for several days until thoroughly air-dried. The force
required to separate or crush these prepared pieces will measure the
adhesive or cohesive property of the sample. A great number of trials
should be made and the mean taken.
=120. Method of Heinrich.=[79]—This process consists in mixing the
air-dried earth with water until its aqueous content is fifty per cent
of the highest water capacity determined by experiment. The sample is
next placed between two pieces of sheet iron of ten centimeters square,
each of which in its middle point is provided with a hook. The thickness
of the layer between the two pieces of iron should be about five to ten
centimeters. The exuding particles of soil are cut off with a knife. The
upper piece of sheet iron is next suspended by a cord in such a way that
the iron piece occupies a horizontal position. A small basket is
attached to the lower surface and sand added thereto, little by little,
until the column of earth is separated. The sand basket and iron plate
are weighed, and the total weight gives the power necessary to separate
a column of soil ten centimeters square in cross section. The iron
plates may be roughened so that the adhesion thereto of the soil is
greater than its cohesive force.
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