Test Water Retention

In this experiment we test water retention using Polytech’s S5 STEM Set and ARD:icon block programming.

Method

We collect two samples of 100g soil from diffirent depths (e.g. Sample A: 5cm and Sample B: 20 cm) and mix each one separately with 50ml distilled water to create sludge.

For each sample:

  • We use the Soil Moisture Sensor AJS05 to measure the moisture level.
  • We use a push button to display the humidity sensor reading to an LCD screen.

We examine the results to explore that different soil samples have different properties. Sample A humidity level is less than Samble B as a result of the water retention property of the soil.

Contents

  1. Sampling
  2. Connections
  3. Block Programming
  4. Usage Instructions
Start

Equipment

  • SMART:Blox S5 STEM Set
    • ARD:icon controller
    • Soil Moisture Sensor AJS05
    • Push Button DJS09
    • LCD 16×2 AJX04
    • UTP cable (x3)
    • USB cable (x1)
  • Sample discs (x2)
  • Scale

Materials

  • 50ml Distilled water (x2)
  • 100g soil sample from 5cm depth
  • 100g soil sample from 20cm depth

Hardware & Software

  • Windows PC
  • ARD:icon application

Warnings/safety

  • There are no special safety requirements for this experiment.
  • The soil should be taken from diffirent depth below the surface for each sample.
  • The experiment must be conducted in such a way so environmental conditions do not interfere with the moisture levels of the collected samples
Close Course

1. Sampling

  1. Collect two samples of soil from the test area. Each sample of soil should be taken from different depth below the surface e.g.
    • Sample A from 5cm
    • Sample B from 20cm

For Sample A and Sample B:

  1. Weigh out 1-unit soil (100 g is recommended).
Continue
  1. Add 50 ml distilled water to it.
  2. Stir the sample for 30 seconds.
  3. The soil-water sample is homogenized to make sludge.
Continue

2. Connections

  1. Connect the Soil Moisture Sensor AJS05 to the ARD:icon A0 port via UTP cable
  2. Connect the Push Button DJS09 to the ARD:icon D9 port via UTP cable
  3. Connect the LCD 16×2 AJX04 to the ARD:icon I2C port via UTP cable
  4. Connect the ARD:icon controller to the PC via USB
Continue

3. Block Programming

  1. Run the ARD:icon application on your PC and create a new programm for the project. The logical steps should be something like that:
    • Assign to a variable (e.g. Humidity) the value of the humidity sensor reading.
    • Assign to a constant (e.g. Soil_Humidity) the value: “Soil Humidity:”
    • Create an IF conditional statement
      IF push button is pressed THEN:
      • print to the first line of the LCD screen the value of the constant Soil_Humidity
      • print to the second line of the LCD screen the value of the variable Humidity
  1. When done, press Generate to generate the Arduino code
  2. Press Upload to upload the programm to the ARD:icon controller
Continue

4. Usage Instructions

  1. Insert the Soil Moisture Sensor AJS05 to Sample A, wait 1 minute.
  2. Push button to display Sample A humidity level on the LCD Screen
  3. Remove and clean surface of humidity sensor with a dry cloth
  4. Repeat steps 1-3, for Sample B

End of tutorial

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