Re: Gauss readings of soil

[Jose Luiz Moreira Garcia]

Dear List members,   If any soil would have a Gauss reading like the ones I have seen posted lately ( like 2,000 ; 3,500, etc...) we could sell those soils as magnets and probably make a fortune out of them. Unfortunately that is not possible.   Soil Paramagnetism is measured in micro CGS and not Gauss. CGS stands for Centimeter, Gram and Second. In other words is the amount of material in Grams, that will move a certain distance in Centimeters over a period of time measured in Seconds when placed near a say 2,000 Gauss magnet. That is indeed a very weak (subtle) form of magnetism that cannot be permanently transmitted to the matter.   Magnetism is measured in Gauss.   Paramagnetism is measured in CGS. Since Soil Paramagnetism is so low  we use micro CGS or CGS x 10(-6) to express its paramagnetism. According to Dr Callahan readings from 0 to 300 micro CGS would mean a poor soil and soils with readings above say 1,200 uCGS would mean fertile soils.   This whole story works perfectly as long as your soil doesnīt have a fair amount of Iron (Fe) . The theory holds true but Iron can mask the results because then we would be measuring "Ferromagnetism" and not "Paramagnetism". I have found that out when I purchased a PSCM Meter and started to measure soils here in Brazil like crazzy about two yeras ago.. I have asked Dr Callahan himself how to separate the Ferromagnetism effect from Paramagnetism and he was not able to give me a better idea than the one I already had which is to attract the iron particles with a strong magnet from a distance that will be impossible to be overcomed by the real Paramagnetic material and then re evaluate the iron-free sample. So, my advise would be : donīt take those numbers as a real measurement of your soil fertility because this isnīt necessarily true once you have a fair amount of iron ( or any other ferromagnetic material ) in your soil.     Jose       ----- Hi James and Barbara! Thanks for all of your good work..... For those of us still wishing to learn some of the technical lingo -- could you explain Gauss?  Thanks! Wayne Hi Wayne I will leave the technical explanation to James  but in the meantime if you want to do some testing yourself here's how 1. get a sample (or a couple of different ones) of paramagneteic rock dust of known gauss and keep for reference, I keep mine in a normal paper envelope. 2.  now you need a small  (1/2" diameter or smaller) but high quality - strong - magnet - your ordinary fridge magnet type is not good enough - and suspend the magnet on a piece of cotton about a foot or so long. 3. the magnet will stick to your envelope of paramagnetic material and by moving the cotton away so that you have just enough tension on the cotton to equal the weight of the magnet you find the magnet comes away from the sample at a certain angle depending on the paramagnetic value or strength of the material tested. The reverse of this of course is that a diamagnetic material (lime for instance) should repel the magnet Its a fun thing - but a good enough system to tell if a rock source is worthy of serious testing - good enough that I was not all that surprised by the reading we got on James's soil and a 1200 reading is regarded as real good for soil   DO NOT GET THIS LITTLE MAGNET ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES OR YOU WILL NUKE THEM Have fun Lloyd Charles