There are lots of laboratory experiments for figuring that out, but one of our favorites is the measurement that let's you go outside, find some soil, and test it in a fun and different way. One of the ways they find out is to dig up some soils from outside, take the sample in their hands, and figure out what's in the soil by feeling it. They are called sand , silt , and clay . You may have felt clay in an art class if you worked with a potter's wheel or molded some pottery for your parents. Clay feels sticky and takes a lot of pressure to squeeze.
Silt feels soft and silky, just like flour used for baking.
Once the amount of sand, silt, and clay is known, you can give the soil a texture class name. These names change depending on how much of each size particle is in the soil. There are people who are really good at sensing just how much sand, silt, and clay a soil contains. They spend a lot of time studying the way different soils feel. Soil scientists use the texture method as a standard part of their field soil analysis.