How does soil affect the ph of water

The correct balance is where the soil pH is between 5. Early identification of soil pH problems is important as it can be both costly and difficult to correct long-term nutrient deficiencies. Some fertilisers can change soil pH and increase or reduce the amount of nutrients available to plants. Fertilisers such as crushed sulfur and some ammonium-based nitrogen fertilisers lower pH and make soil more acid. They are, therefore, useful for soils with problems caused by high pH. When soils are too acidic for a particular crop, lime or dolomite can be used to increase the pH to the desired level.

The amount of lime or dolomite required to correct an acidic pH will vary from soil to soil. Soils with high organic matter and clay content will be more resistant to changes in pH and will require larger application rates. Therefore soil pH, while indicating the need for lime, is not a reliable guide as to how much lime is required. Field trials, in which good quality lime was cultivated into the soil surface to a depth of 0. Across all soils, for every tonne of lime added per hectare, soil pH increased from 0.

The most common change was an increase of 0. The larger pH increases were obtained on sandy soils with low organic matter content. The reason I am writing to you is because I don't have a full understanding why I am doing this project. The soil if mixed with water might change the pH of water depending on its acidity or basicity. My question is: What am I accomplishing by knowing this? Is it to know if the soil is acidic or basic so it is good for certain plants to grow?

Or is there another reason behind doing this project? Please explain it to me so I can explain to my daughter in case she is asked by the judges, the purpose of this project.

Thank you, Fred. Re: How does soil affect the pH of water? I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. I was checking this forum yesterday, but did not see your inquiry at that time.

You are on the right track to help your daughter try to understand the overall significance of her project. The reason this is so important is that the pH of the soil can affect the growth of plants.

The background section of this project includes a good description of pH and 3 references that explain the importance of soil pH for plants. Your daughter should be familiar with this information so she can explain the significance of her project to the science fair judges. In the Western US, gardeners will notice that plants show signs of iron deficiency and will apply sulfur and other additives that will lower the pH so the iron in the soil become more available to the plants.

Can your daughter think of any practical applications of knowing about soil pH? Perhaps you can go on a neighborhood tour and find plants that need to have the pH of their soil adjusted. I hope this helps. When water vapor forms into clouds and moves into its rainfall phase, it combines with many different particles that are floating in the atmosphere.

Some of these particles have very little effect on the rain, while others can adjust its chemical properties slightly. Certain acidic particles can combine with the water and give it a lower overall pH level. When this water falls as rain, it encounters other substances, notably the soil it eventually trickles down into.

Soil naturally holds minerals that are alkaline in nature, traces of limestone and other types of rock that possess similar qualities. When the acid particles of the falling water encounter these minerals, a chemical reaction occurs that neutralizes the acidity of the water but also neutralizes the minerals.

This increases the acidity of the soil, but levels the water largely neutral in acidic content as it makes its way down to the water table. In areas that experience heavy rainfall, the water tends to wash away alkaline element or neutralize them with chemical reactions. In this case, if a large amount of acidic water falls into the soil, it may not lose all of its acidic qualities and contribute to a lower overall pH level of the nearby water supply.

However, most acidic elements in water are neutralized by encounters with bedrock even in the soil cannot handle them.