1) The document describes an experiment to determine how different terrains (clay, dirt, sand, cement) absorb water during a flash flood. It was hypothesized that clay would absorb the least amount of water and dirt would absorb the most. 2) The experiment involved creating sloped surfaces out of each material and measuring the amount of water runoff. Surprisingly, the results showed that sand absorbed the most water while clay absorbed the least. 3) In conclusion, the experiment revealed that sand is best at holding back water during floods since it can reshape to trap water, while clay is the worst due to its smooth impermeable surface that allows water to run off quickly. This was unexpected since clay was predicted

1. SFP- Flooding Down
the Road
By: Jordan Meriwether
Friday, May 9, 14

2. Introduction
Different environments are affected in various ways to flooding, but the worst area to
live in is at the bottom of a hill which is where all the water from above will soon
come. Throughout this experiment the different absorption density and environments
in science to determine my outcome. By the end of this both which streets that are
best and worst during a flash flood will be discovered. Out of concrete, wood, sand,
dirt, and clay clay seems like the worst environment to live on. The terrains were
average materials that people lived on or they are material that could work
potentially as ground.
Friday, May 9, 14

3. Hypothesis
I hypothesized that clay will give off the greatest amount of water dirt will give off
the least. I feel the water will have separate effects depending on the density of the
terrain, for example harder materials will let off more water while looser softer
materials will absorb and hold the water. I have seen it multiple times before in the
news, how water is flooding the streets and not the grass.
since they both have completely different densities so their water intake extremely
differently. It having no pores to catch water, due to not being oxidized in its creation
unlike concrete, so water will immediately slide off it. The least water run off will
come from the dirt since it will have a lower density and also absorb the water and be
able to hold without releasing.
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4. Experimental Design
Variables:
Controlled variables: The slopes’ 150 degree angles the slopes themselves, the 2
cups of water being use, 4 cups of each material, and the four non absorbent
sponges.
Independent variable: The terrain of the slopes
Dependent variable: The water Run-off
Groups:
Control group: Dirt
Experimental group #1:Sand
Experimental group #2:Cement
Experimental group #3:Clay
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5. Materials
two boxes
slopes
protractor
sand
dirt
clay
cement
duct tape
non absorbent foam
scissors
measuring cups
water
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6. Procedures
1.Gather identical two boxes and cut a square starting at the bottom up 4.5inches and
across.
2.Gather four identical 16.5inch long slopes or any none traction surface that can hold
materials.
3.Stick the slopes through the hole to the top back of the box there should be two per
box.
4.Measure to make sure that it sticks out the top of the box by 6 inches.
5.Take a protractor and measure the slope to be 150 degrees inside the box.
6.Stick non absorbent foam wedged between the box and the slope to hold in water.
7.Place 4 Cups of each material separately among the slopes.
8.Get 2 Cups of water for each slope.
9.Pour the total 4 Cups of water over each slope.
10.Record findings.
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7. Mass
Volume
Sand- 2.16 lbs Cement - 3.6 lb
4 .54 Density 4 .9 Density
Dirt- .6 lbs Clay -1 lb
4 15 Density 4 .25 Density
Friday, May 9, 14

8. Analysis/Observation
Analysis:
Based on the finding of the graph it can be seen that throughout all of these trails
were very constant, this probably do the constant usage of the same amount of every
thing. It can also been seen that the differences of the sand compared with the rest is
quite extreme At first I would believe it was the because the huge density differences,
after finding the densities I found they don’t match at all.
Observations:
Though would originally I thought that the absorption was based on the density of
the soil, but then the density graph and the absorption graph would correspond. What
I found is that their is no real connection in this case between the density and the
amount of water released.
Friday, May 9, 14

9. Discussion
I had predicted that clay would absorb the least amount of water out of all of the terrains and dirt would absorb the most.
This is do to its creation since it was created to stay hard without adjusting to the air around it like concrete its smooth surface
became smoother than any other. There was also the factor that it could reach a hardness very similar to concrete, with the
hardness of concrete and no ridges or pores to catch water it was not able to absorb water. As for the sand, it did not actually
absorb the water it reformed to around the water to catch it all.
Before the experiment I have checked the densities which are the weights over the amount of each I used and found that the
dirt had the lowest density while concrete had the highest, but still clay seemed to have a much smoother surface than concrete
so I expected that clay would have more run of since it have a no where to catch water. After the experiment I saw that I was
correct and also wrong with my results due to the clay being the most impermeable, but the sand being the most permeable
while also being able to hold water.
The only issues I had throughout my project where the spreading of the materials, since sand and dirt are loose they can
easily fit into place but clay and concrete have to be imperfectly molded. Shape could also be affected by the them drying since
when that happens it shrinks and cracks.
Friday, May 9, 14

10. Concluesion
In conclusion, it can be seen that sand did the absolute best holding back the water,
while clay did the worst. This is a surprise to me because I believed that dirt was
going to hold back the most due to being able to hold water inside of itself. Though, I
found that sand can hold water and even though it slips through the cracks in the
sand can reshape to hold water much quicker than Dirt can. Plus the pure
concentrations of each material inside the slopes was higher in sand due to me not
adjusting the quantities to match in weight.
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11. Acknowledgement
• Mr. Sherif
• Dell Meriwether
• Kelly Brandt
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12. Bibliography
Floods. January 1, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.weather.gov/pbz/floods
Absorption. January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/
absorption-info.htm
Howard Perlman (12/20/13). Runoff. January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://
ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/runoff.html
(12/23/13) Flood Facts. January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.floodsmart.gov/
floodsmart/pages/flood_facts.jsp18/2013).
Floods. January 1, 2014, retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/floods
Friday, May 9, 14