What kind of water is in soil?
January 7th, 2009 by rose
When you first apply water to the soil, you saturate it, that is all the air pores are filled with water, there is no oxygen in the soil. That lasts just until irrigation stops, then:
1. Gravitational Water
That is the water pulled from the larger soil pores (area between the soil particles) by gravity. As the water is pulled
out, a new oxygen supply moves into the soil. (roots and soil microbes need oxygen).
The left behind water is either Capillary or Hydroscopic.
2. Capillary Water
Capillary water adheres to a soil particle in the same way
a film of water adheres to any object. This water is held at a fairly low adhesion rate so is easily taken in by the plants.
The name, capillary, means moves, by "capillary attraction," from one soil particle to another. The smaller particles, such as clay (microscopic size unlike a sand particle you can actually see), have
greater exposed capillary surfaces. As a result, water
will rise higher in a 1-inch tube containing clay than in
a 1-inch tube containing sand. Clay has other problems, but that's not a concern with this question.
Hydroscopic Water
This is a very thin film of moisture that "sticks" to each
soil particle. This water is held too tightly for the plant to use.
Even in very dry soil some hydroscopic water is present. The more clay in the soil, the more the soil may "feel" moist, but that's due to the many more times number of clay particles. They are still held too tightly for the plants to remove the moisture.
The only way to remove all of the hydroscopic water from a soil sample is to bake the sample in an oven for a long time.
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