In order to understand how much a cube of land weighs, you need to understand what this value can depend on. After this, it is necessary to highlight the most common data on the weight of a particular type of land. The obtained data can be used with a certain degree of approximation in solving problems at the school physics course. Or in everyday life when conducting work related to land management or gardening.
What should be understood by the weight of a cube of earth
To find the answer to the question of how much 1 cubic meter of earth weighs, you need to understand the primary concepts. As a rule, people asking such a question mean the mass of the amount of land that fits in 1 cubic meter of space. It is easy to imagine such a volume in the form of a spatial cube, in which all sides are equal to one meter. In a more formalized form, it is customary to designate such a volume with the symbol 1 m ^ 3, or one meter in the 3rd degree. In 1 cubic meter, a different amount of substance can fit. For example, 1 m ^ 3 of water weighs exactly 1000 kg, or one ton.
Thus, the bulk density of a substance is expressed either in kilograms or in tons per 1 cubic meter. When asked about how much a cube of land weighs, under the ground most often understand the weight of the soil body or soil. In turn, the soil is a mixture of fractions that differ in the degree of density or moisture, the content of one or another type of mineral nutrients. Therefore, further in the article, factors determining the weight of the earth will be analyzed in detail, and approximate characteristics of the weight of the earth depending on these factors will be given.
It should be understood that the data are, rather, for reference only. Since each cubic meter of land is unique in its own way, and therefore has a different weight. Nevertheless, you can get an approximate idea of how much a cube of land weighs in tons.
What determines the weight of the earth
The fact is that this is influenced by many factors, among which there are several most important ones - the degree of moisture of the soil body (the amount of moisture that contains the volume of soil at the time of measurement), as well as the mineralogical composition of the soil, on which its density depends.
The higher the degree of moisture in the earth, the greater its weight. As a rule, after rain or near water bodies the maximum weight. During a drought period, it is minimal, as well as the weight of the land in dry elevated areas. In addition, the more dense the substance of which the earth is composed, the more weight will be 1 cubic meter of such land.
Weight depending on soil composition
The smallest weight is 1 cubic meter of land, taken from the zone of upland or downstream swamps and consisting of peat and organic humus - only 700-900 kilograms, or 0.7-0.9 tons. The weight of 1 cubic meter of land of steppes and forest-steppes - a typical chernozem - is 1.4-1.5 tons. Chernozem consists of fractions of both light and heavy mineralogical composition. This weight of land is optimal for various types of agricultural work.
A cubic meter of sandy loam weighs about 2.6 tons, loam - 2.61 tons, sand - 2.65 tons, clay - up to 2.8 tons. The fact is that the smaller and denser the particles, the greater the amount of land by mass can fit into 1 cubic meter.
Clay, unlike all other types of land, consists of very small particles of very high density. Therefore, the weight of 1 cubic meter of clay is maximum. It should not be forgotten that the data presented are true only for completely dry land and can be used to solve theoretical problems.
Land weight depending on soil moisture
To understand how much a cube of earth weighs in reality, it is necessary to introduce the concept of a coefficient of moisture. The humidification coefficient is an average value characterizing the absorption capacity of a particular type of land. This value shows the maximum amount of moisture that a particular type of land can absorb. It increases the weight of 1 cubic meter in a given number of times.
So, to find the weight of 1 cubic meter of wet sandy loam, you need to multiply the weight of dry sandy loam by 1.7. For sand, the coefficient is about 2.7, for clay - 2.6, for loam - 2.4. Thus, you can find the weight of 1 cubic meter of land in conditions of complete moisture.