Soil Chromatography!

So I mixed up all the materials and ingredients for soil chromatography- which you are all going to do this week!  

What is Chromatography?

Chromatography understands the soil as a being alive, in other words it is an unfinished process with elements working and living in symbiosis. Therefore the final result is a qualitative view of these processes and elements rather than a quantative one.

Chromatography gives you valuable information such as soil structure, general health of soil, minerals available for the plant, biological diversity, or organic matter content and humus available. It also assess the fertility of the soil through the integration of previous elements. 

This is a photographic process using capillary action to make beautiful abstract images which are also science information communication telling us about whats in the soil, and how healthy it is. The main ingredient after soil, water and paper is the Silver Nitrate we use as a sensitiser to make these images. 

gather all your materials.  first before you begin- there's nothing worse than finding you've forgotten something you need!

Health and Safety is important. I have a pair of reusable Nitril Gloves - nitril is the best glove for keeping stuff out and is non allergenic. Eye protection is really important. Also something to keep stuff off your clothes and body- I used to have a labcoat but now I have this awesome apron with a gold skull on it. 

the first photo is some of my soil sample after i ground it in a mortar and pestle and sifted it through a seive- much more uniform. Then i weighed out 5 samples of the same amount of soil and mixed it with the same volume of solvent. 

a theme emerging- i noticed my reflection in the pool of soil sample liquid in my petri dish. 

on the left i'm waving. 

Some Fun Silver Nitrate (AgNO3) Facts:

Silver Nitrate is used...

• to test the exact salinity of Sea Water. (it’s about 35 grams per Liter, by the way…)
• in Oil Fields to determine the amount of Chloride ions in water and drilling fluids.
• in pharmaceuticals and treating skin and flesh wounds
• to prevent premature shrinking/ dropping of buds & blooms, in cut flowers. (2.83% solution)
• to inhibit cut flowers from making ethylene, which causes them to ripen
• as a stain for proteins and nucleic acids in microscopy
• as a glaze for ceramics (Raku and silver wash)
• as a colourant in glass (blues and purples)
• and 
• As a sensitiser in Photography!

a still life of filter sensitization. 

this is a timelapse of capilary action- this process is

used 2x. the first to sensitise the filter paper with silver

the second to suck up the dirty water samples we made

interestingly, the obsorption time changes depending on 

what liquids we are soaking up- the silver was much faster

than the dirt! 

the music is a collaboration by RM Hubbert and Kathryn Williams 

off an albumn called "Tell the Trees"

these are two Chroma I finished soaking up dirty water with and taped them to my window to 'expose' and get the colours  and forms to deepen. 

Analysis of the Chromatogram or Chroma

The analysis of the final chromatogram - the filter paper - seems more difficult.

Comparison between before and after, different locations, may be easier than to pin-point exactly what is producing the patterns.

The different colours we obtain has to be a reflection of the chemical reaction with silver nitrate and whatever compound that is deposited there.

this was from sample 1 it reminds me of a tree stump
or a turkey tail fungi. What do the ones you've made remind you of? 

 

The general rule thumb:

• the more complex the pattern the more organic the soil 
• the less complex the pattern the less organic the soil
• channels and spikes are a good indication of organic material
• deep strong colours also indicate richer healthier soil

Pfeiffer's Criteria for Evaluation of Chromatograms In his book Chromatography Applied to Quality Testing Pfeiffer gives the following pointers for interpreting the chromatography images: 1. Number, width and color of the different zones, as well as their regular or irregular formation and shading. Distinguish between 3 main zones:        a)outer and middle mainly due to the organic material tested        b) inner which indicates the presence or lack of mineralization The width of the zones corresponds to the amounts of characteristic substances 2. Ring formations between the middle and outer zone and at the edge of the outer zone. 3. Color of the zones:      a) a light to medium brown, evenly distributed, points to a good colloidal humus formation      b) dark brown enclosures point to acid humus substances      c) violet radiations point to increasing mineralization and reduced organic substance      d) in the case of plant extracts, vitamin preparations and foodstuffs, other colors are observed. 4. Radiation, number, color and shape of pike-like formations      a) the violet radiations of the inner zone again indicate the breaking-down tendency toward mineralization.      b) the various phases of fermentation (first, decomposition; second, humus formation; third, mineralization and greatly advanced decomposition) are clearly indicated in the chromatograms of soils and compost.

two words you should try to get information on and include in your next blog post:

Solvents: what are they?

Extraction: what is this?

Take some photos of you preparing the chromatography, the chroma's taped to the window and some of them finished include the photos too! This is a pretty abstract portrait of the soil health where you found it. In a way it's photographic portrait of your environment!

these below are ones i didn't absorb the dirty water long enough and i tried to use different solvents to extract the materials from the soil. I like some of the different things that came from these material experiments- while they might not be as good for the science communication they sure are pretty! This is a great way that science and art overlap- there's a lot of *Experimentation* testing things out, trying different things looking for a result.