Percent Organic Matter

We put our soil in a drying over over night that was between 90 and 95 degrees. The next day we filled 3/4 of a crucible and put it on a ring stand the next day and heated it for 30 minutes. After we shut off the burner and allowed the crucible to cool we recorded the mass. The mass of the soil before heating it was 6.7 grams and after the 30 minutes the soil was about 4.3 grams. This means that our soil had 2.4 grams of organic matter. We found that by subtracting 4.3 from 6.7. It is not necessary to measure the mass of the soil alone because the weight of the crucible will not change depending on heat. It will still stay the same. Three reasons why it is important to have organic materials in soil is because it improves soil structure, it increases water holding capacity and it holds organisms.