Post date: Jul 27, 2012 4:39:08 PM
The last couple of days I have just been helping another PhD student by doing just about the same thing as last time. Still this time I did some Potassium Permanganate extractions. I found it interesting that some of the samples stayed the color of a dark purple and two of the were much clearer. Yet when I looked back at the PH of the soils, most of them seemed normal but the two that had the ore clear solution. Those soils had a very close pH to an organic acid, normally when organic acids come in contact with the skin it can become irritated. Then I remembered that Potassium Permanganate was basic, which means it has hydroxide ions that can neutralized by acids and when it's neutralized it becomes clear, so it was reasonable. Yet I never thought soil could have that low of a pH, its nice to learn something new.