I am a beginner in arduino, but wanted to do something with it for my science project.
Is there any way to use arduino to measure nitrogen content in soil? Even if it is something basic, it would be helpful since I am new anyway.
This project is due soon, in the next week, so if someone can give me some quick help, that would be great!
Thanks!
The Arduino by itself can measure voltages and elapsed time. To measure just about anything else requires a suitable sensor.
You could start by learning how nitrogen content in soil is measured (if you don't know already), and if there exists an Arduino-compatible sensor in your price range.
This sort of question comes up a lot, so searching for "arduino measure soil nutrients" is also a place to start.
Some nitrogen sensors are a bit expensive, especially those that measure for soil and not air, there is no other way to do it without the other sensor?
Thanks for the quick reply!
This project is due soon, in the next week
Better hurry, then!
It seems that they are suggesting using arduino water sensors to measure nutrient content in the soil. Will that work?
I recommend to carefully read the paper you linked in order to determine what type of electrochemical sensor the authors used, how they verified that the sensor actually works and produces reproducible results, and (for your purposes) whether and how accurately nitrogen content of soil was measured.
Hint: does this picture look familiar?
agaresha1:
It seems that they are suggesting using arduino water sensors to measure nutrient content in the soil. Will that work?
No.
Skimmed that article; saw the image at 4.1 captioned "Electrochemical sensor" and it lost all credibility there and then.
As far as I know such sensors don't exist outside of the lab (element analyses, mass spectroscopy, that kind of equipment).
Mind that most ion selective sensors (as used in water) can detect only one ion. So for nitrogen in water you would have at least three: ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The last one is of course the most important, the first two only to make sure that your nitrification bacteria do their job. In soil most of the nitrogen will be locked inside organic molecules, making it even harder to detect. For added fun: add some legumes in the mix... And that's just the nitrogen part.
Skimmed that article; saw the image at 4.1 captioned "Electrochemical sensor" and it lost all credibility there and then.
Yep. The article appears to be a complete hoax, published by an academic desperate to "publish or perish".
Thanks for the info!
I have kept doing research but seem to be unable to find anything else.
If you all find something, please keep me updated.
Thanks!