Question: What types of experiments do you do?

Melissa Ladyman answered on 16 Jun 2016:

At the moment we are looking at how chemicals travel through soil so we have made some ‘soil columns’ in the lab. A soil column is simply a short tube filled with soil (20 cm)- we use two different types one more like sand, and one more like garden soil.

Before doing the experiment we make sure we understand exactly what is in the soil by testing the size of the soil particles, and all the things in it like sand, clay or chalk. We need to do that to be able to figure out why chemicals act the way they do in different soils.

After testing the soil we add the chemicals to the top of the soil and then drip water on it for about six weeks. The amount of water we put on is the same as the amount of rainfall in the UK in one year. That way we know how quickly the chemicals will travel through the soil in one year. Then we can work out how quickly the chemicals get to underground water, or to nearby rivers.

We do lots of other things with soil, and how to get rid of unwanted chemicals safely. I hope this answers your question!