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Soil physics is the study of
soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...
's physical properties and processes. It is applied to management and prediction under natural and managed ecosystems. Soil physics deals with the dynamics of physical soil components and their phases as solids, liquids, and gases. It draws on the principles of
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...
,
physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistica ...
,
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
, and
meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
. Soil physics applies these principles to address practical problems of
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
,
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
, and engineering.


Prominent soil physicists

* Edgar Buckingham (1867–1940) :The theory of gas diffusion in soil and
vadose zone The vadose zone, also termed the unsaturated zone, is the part of Earth between the land surface and the top of the phreatic zone, the position at which the groundwater (the water in the soil's pores) is at atmospheric pressure ("vadose" is f ...
water flow in soil. *Willard Gardner (1883-1964) :First to use porous cups and manometers for capillary potential measurements and accurately predicted the moisture distribution above a water table.Sterling A. Taylor: Willard Gardner, 1883-1964. Soil Science 100(2), 1965. * Lorenzo A. Richards (1904–1993) :General transport of water in unsaturated soil, measurement of soil water potential using
tensiometer Tensiometer may refer to one of a number of devices. The two most common are: *Tensiometer (surface tension) an instrument used to measure the surface tension of liquids *Tensiometer (soil science) A tensiometer in soil science is a measuri ...
. *
John R. Philip John Robert Philip AO FAA FRS (18 January 1927, Ballarat26 June 1999, Amsterdam) was an Australian soil physicist and hydrologist, internationally recognised for his contributions to the understanding of movement of water, energy and gases. Wh ...
(1927–1999) :Analytical solution to general soil water transport, Environmental Mechanics.


See also

*
Agrophysics Agrophysics is a branch of science bordering on agronomy and physics, whose objects of study are the agroecosystem - the biological objects, biotope and biocoenosis affected by human activity, studied and described using the methods of physical ...
*
Bulk density Bulk density, also called apparent density or volumetric density, is a property of powders, granules, and other "divided" solids, especially used in reference to mineral components ( soil, gravel), chemical substances, ( pharmaceutical) ingredi ...
*
Capacitance probe Capacitance sensors (or Dielectric sensors) use capacitance to measure the dielectric permittivity of a surrounding medium. The configuration is like the neutron probe where an access tube made of PVC is installed in the soil; probes can also be mo ...
*
Frequency domain sensor {{Short description, Soil moisture content measuring instrument Frequency domain (FD) sensor is an instrument developed for measuring soil moisture content. The instrument has an oscillating circuit, the sensing part of the sensor is embedded in the ...
*
Geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It ...
*
Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
* Irrigation scheduling *
Neutron probe A neutron probe is a device used to measure the quantity of water present in soil. A typical neutron probe contains a pellet of americium-241 and beryllium. The alpha particles emitted by the decay of the americium collide with the light berylliu ...
*
Soil porosity The pore space of soil contains the liquid and gas phases of soil, i.e., everything but the solid phase that contains mainly minerals of varying sizes as well as organic compounds. In order to understand porosity better a series of equations have b ...
* Soil thermal properties *
Time domain reflectometer A time-domain reflectometer (TDR) is an electronic instrument used to determine the characteristics of electrical lines by observing reflected waveforms. It can be used to characterize and locate faults in metallic cables (for example, twisted pa ...
* Water content


Notes

* Horton, Horn, Bachmann & Peth eds. 2016
Essential Soil Physics
Schweizerbart, * Encyclopedia of Soil Science, edts. Ward Chesworth, 2008, Uniw. of Guelph Canada, Publ. Springer,


External links

*
SSSA Soil Physics Division
{{Physics-footer Soil science