Percent Organic Matter

We put the soil in the drying oven overnight at a temperature of 90-95 degrees Celsius to get rid of the water in our soil. After the soil has been in the drying oven we weighed the crucible, which was 53.1g. We then weighed the crucible with the dried out soil, which was 61.4 . Before we used the bunsen burners we made sure we had our hair pulled back and we had closed toe shoes on. We then placed the crucible on the ring stand in the fume hood. We heated it gently for a few minutes but then we heated it as hot as we could for 30 minutes with a blue flame. We then recorded the mass of the crucible and soil, which was 55.2. Our soil had 6.2 grams of organic matter. It is not necessary to measure the soil alone because the crucibles weight can not change. It is important to have organic materials in soil because it has a nutritional function. This serves nitrogen and phosphorous for plant growth. Organic matter also has a biological importance. This functions in that it profoundly affects the activites of microflora and organisms around it. Organic Matter also physically promotes good soil structure and will increase, buffer and exchange the capacity of soil.

The crucible with the dried out dirt in the busen burner. 

The weight of the soil and the crucible before it went through the busen burner