A critical study of the hygroscopic coefficient of soil

Abstract

With the aid of a careful technique a critical investigation has been made of the Hygroscopic Coefficient of soil at five temperatures, ranging from 15° C. to 35·6° C. It has been shown that (1) the customary 12–24 hours' period used by previous workers is much too short to give any approach to final values; (2) at the lower temperatures all except very light soils continue to take up water almost indefinitely, and it is not possible to extrapolate to an approximate final value; (3) these final values decrease with increasing temperature but in the early stages the rate of moisture absorption increases with increasing temperature; (4) the disputes as to whether the Hygroscopic Coefficient increased or decreased with temperature were due to the unrecognised operation of the effects detailed in (1) and (3) above.