Determination of soil quality with Cobra SMARTsense

Principle

Various metabolic processes take place in a soil. These depend on the composition of the soil and can be reflected in the carbon dioxide content of the soil in a nutritional way.

Benefits

• Especially understandable and didactically prepared description of the experiment (reference to everyday life etc.) including protocol questions.
• Future-oriented teaching: Integration into digital science lessons with tablets or smartphones.
• Increased motivation of students by using the intuitive measureAPP.
• Increased media competence.

Tasks

Students will use the Cobra SMARTsense CO2 sensor to determine the carbon dioxide content of various soil types and draw conclusions about the activity of the soil and its function as a carbon sink. The beakers used must be sealed tightly with cling film. Even better is to use an Erlenmeyer flask with a stopper into which the sensors fit exactly to avoid air exchange.

Learning Objectives

The students should recognize that different soil types contain different amounts of carbon dioxide.