# My artsy, unscientific experiment w/ Aquasoil



## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

Being that Aquasoil is known to be some sort of ceramic material, I thought I'd go ahead and put it in my kiln today while I was firing some pots. (I'm a ceramist among other things...) The kiln went to an approximate temperature of 1700F and upon inspection of the "fired" aquasoil, I found that it contains a high amount of organic material. I came to this conclusion due to the high amount of carbon that was present on the surface of the of the aquasoil and crucible that held it. Unexposed areas of the substrate and crucible were jet black, a sign of carbon reduction. 
Some naturally occuring ball clays are known to contain organic material, but not enough to ellicit a response that I witnessed. 

I guess this explains how aquasoil lowers the pH.

I'll run some other tests to check iron content.


----------



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Aaron,

Could you explain in simple terms how the organic material in the clay affects pH? Is it a similar or the same to what peat does?

--Nikolay


----------



## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

What you said Niko. I'm assuming it affects the ph the same way peat would. Degradation of organics?


----------

