Estimation of the Total Dissolved Salts by Hydrometer Test

Maysam Th. Al-Hadidi; Balqees A. Ahmed; Baqer Abdul Hussein Ali

Maysam Th. Al-Hadidi College of Engineering – University of Baghdad
Balqees A. Ahmed College of Engineering – University of Baghdad
Baqer Abdul Hussein Ali Council affaires -University of Baghdad

Keywords: Hydrometer, total dissolved salts, saline density, gravimetric method

Abstract

Water has ability to dissolve large amounts of salts if it added to soil. The density of brine could be measured with a hydrometer. The measurement results are related with the mass of the total dissolved salts in the water.
The main purpose of this research is proposing a new simple method to testing the total dissolved salts (TDS) in the soil. This method enables the engineers to find the total dissolved salts (TDS) by measuring the density of the saline solution, which result from dissolving the soil in distilled water. This method is based on finding the density by using the hydrometer. This method showed very good results by applying the proposed method, the dissolved salts test would be more easily and quickly.
The proposed method is equal or more in its accuracy on other testing methods, and has the advantage of being considerably faster if there were large numbers of samples have to be tested.