Discussion

In the process of analyzing the soil by using hydrometer , when we dropped the
hydrometer in the sedimentation cylinder, it was swung up and down, made it quite
difficult to read. Thus, some error may happened in this process. Another problem I
found is that the mass of the soil increased after dried in oven. One possible reason
is because it didn't completely dry, so the leftover water made it heavier.

Conclusion
In this laboratory, we studied about soil analysis using the Hydrometer method. First
of all, we filled the sedimentation cylinder with 125 cm 3 of 4% NaPO3 solution and
added 1000 cm3 of distilled water. Then we insert the hydrometer to read the top
and bottom meniscus, which we got 2.00 and 2.85. We add 50g of dry soil mix with
125 cm3 of prepared NaPO3 solution in a cup. We carefully transfer it in to cleaned
cylinder and added water until it reached 1000 cm 3 and we shake the cylinder. We
now slowly dropped the hydrometer in to a jar and take a read at 2 and 4 mins. We
shake the jar and dropped a hydrometer again. The reading at 2 min is 41 which is
the same as we got in the first time, so we continue to read at 9, 16, 25 and 36 min.
We corrected the reading and use it to calculated for ( R
Hydrometer

). We

may apply this knowledge when we have to determine the particle size distribution
of a soil when the particle size of a soil is too small to use the sieve analysis.

Baifern :

In this experiment, we learn about Mechanical Analysis of Soil

(Hydrometer method) to introduce a method for the determination of

particle size distribution when particle sizes are smaller than 0.075 mm.
While we do this experiment follow the procedure, we must accurately
record the value of time of reading, elapsed time, temperature, and actual
hydrometer reading (Rr) in the table. Another value in the table we

calculate from the formula are: correct hydrometer reading (R c) use formula
Rc=Rr-zero correction+Ct , percent finer use formula %finer=( Rc/Ws)*100,
correct hydrometer meniscus (R) use formula R=R r-0.85, the value of L find
from Table 4.3 or use formula L=16.3-0.1641R, find the value of V by
V=L/t, find K value from Table 4.4 in this case specific gravity of solid
equal to 2.65, and diameter (D) use formula D=K*sqr(L/t). Finally, we plot
the graph of the grain size distribution obtained from hydrometer test in
semi-log graph. We should intend to learn this experiment because we can
use this knowledge in the future, for example, analyze or classify the
property and size of soil that suitable for structure.