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dry mass drying water content Example Calculation

Calculation example - Determine the water content within a soil sample

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Determine water content within a soil sample as a percentage, by drying the soil in the oven at 105oC for 24 hours.

Known values:

total mass of the soil sample, Mt=30.2 g,
dry mass of the soil sample, Ms=23.3 g
air mass Ma is negligible

Solution:

Water mass calculation, Mw:

 mass

Water content w is a mass ratio that is used to quantify the amount of water present within the soil and is defined as:

 water content equation

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