Temperature Dependence of Soil-Moisture Potential

Teachers have noticed that children draw only those objects which they know by name. Doubtless the adult has a similar tendency, exemplified by the researcher, to limit his observations or to relate them to that which can be expressed in the terminology of an existing or newly developed theory. In this thesis the data obtained from studies of the temperature and pressure dependence of the relative vapor pressure over moist soil samples are analyzed by a thermodynamic approach. Not all of the results can be explained completely by means of this tool. Natural systems, such as a moist soil, are probably too complex for any single theory; but since the language of thermodynamics provides the best-known means of conveying the results to others, it is felt that this language should be used throughout the thesis