The determination of exchangeable calcium in carbonate-free soils

Abstract

(1) The possibility of using acetic acid as a reagent for extracting exchangeable calcium from carbonate-free soils is discussed, and experimental results are given showing that calcium is quantitatively precipitated from an acetic acid medium.(2) A method for determining exchangeable calcium using 0·5 N acetic acid is described, and figures are given comparing this proposed method with the Hissink method.(3) A modification of the proposed method is suggested in the case of heavy clay soils owing to the impervious nature of these soils which probably does not allow the acid to penetrate through the whole mass of the soil when leached on the filter paper.