SBI 3CI Water Absorbency of Peat Moss

SBI 3CI Water Absorbency of Peat Moss Complete those sections in red italics. Purpose: To determine the percentage of water that can be held by Sphagnum Peat Moss compared to the dry weight.

Background: Explain what peat moss is.

Hypothesis: Your prediction with reasons of how much water, as a percentage of the dry mass of the peat moss, the peat moss will hold.

Materials & Apparatus: You require a 250 mL beaker, pH paper, wire gauze, paper towels, tap water and an electronic balance.

Procedure: 1. Clean the beaker and find its mass. 2. Fill the beaker with dry peat moss. Find the mass of the beaker and peat moss, then subtract it from the mass of the beaker to get just the mass of the peat moss. 3. Slowly add water to the peat moss allowing it to absorb as much of the water as possible without letting the water overflow the beaker. 4. After letting the beaker sit for a 15 minutes with the water, test the water using pH paper and record the value. Then pour off the excess water into the sink using the wire gauze as a filter to prevent the peat moss from washing away with the water. NOTE: do NOT let the soil go down the sink. Put the paper towel on the bottom of the sink and pour off the water onto the paper towel so that the paper towel catches any peat moss. You then roll up the paper towel and throw it out. 5. Once you have filtered off as much water as you can, find the mass of the beaker and wet peat moss, then subtract the mass of the beaker to find the mass of just the wet peat moss. 6. Using the equation shown in the observations, calculate the percentage of water that the dry peat moss has absorbed. 7. Clean up your station THOROUGHLY!!

Observations: The mass of the dry beaker is: Dry Peat Moss (g) Wet Peat Moss (g) % Water in Peat Moss beaker + Dry PM beaker + Wet PM - beaker______- beaker______Wet PM – Dry PM x 100= Dry PM Mass of the Dry PM = Mass of the Wet PM =

Conclusion: Answer you hypothesis and explain the importance of having water absorbency in peat moss and evaluate the activity.