Dirt seems to be taken for granted by everyone except children, the people who make detergent, farmers, the Smithsonian Institution and LI-COR Biosciences, a Lincoln company that makes scientific measu
RICHARD PIERSOL/Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, August 16, 2008 7:00 pm
Of all the ancient natural elements — earth, fire, water and air — earth, the one beneath our feet, is the most pedestrian.
Dirt seems to be taken for granted by everyone except children, the people who make detergent, farmers, the Smithsonian Institution and LI-COR Biosciences, a Lincoln company that makes scientific measurement instruments.
Hence, as an ancient philosopher might say, it is fitting that LI-COR has a piece of equipment that is amazing and enlightening children and adults in a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Aptly titled “Dig it! The Secrets of Soil,” the 5,000-square-foot exhibition opened on July 19 and will run through January 2010.
What we didn’t know about soil is plenty: There are more living creatures in a shovel full of rich soil than there are human beings on the planet.
“Yet more is known about the dark side of the moon than about soil,” the Smithsonian said.
Dig It! includes interactive displays, hands-on models, videos, 54 soil monoliths representing soils from each U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia, and cultural displays that underscore the sustenance and inspiration that humans have drawn from soils.
LI-COR’s LI-8100 Automated Soil CO2 Flux Measurement System is featured in an interactive display.
The display uses the analogy that the LI-8100 chambers are soil “breathalyzers.”
Visitors activate the chambers to detect the amount of carbon dioxide produced by soil organisms in two very different environments, a tropical forest compared to a savannah.
LI-COR introduced the LI-8100 Automated Soil CO2 Flux System to the market in December 2003.
The system has chambers for making both short-term survey and long-term, unattended measurements.
The chambers featured in the display were customized for the Smithsonian.
Clear acrylic bowls replaced the standard white bowls of the chambers. The white metal base plate was modified to clear Plexiglas at the request of designers so viewers would see more of the soil beneath the survey area.
LI-COR Senior Design Engineer Douglas Allyn, who served as team leader on the LI-8100 design project, coordinated the project requirements with Smithsonian designers.
No actual measurements are being performed for the Smithsonian Dig it! exhibit.
LED light ropes are used to portray the measurement and to direct the visitor’s attention to a monitor that explains how CO2 is measured and the differences in its concentration in the survey areas.
In field use, the LI-8100 Automated Soil CO2 Flux System provides researchers equipment to measure CO2 in climate change research, said Doc Chaves, LI-COR’s marketing communications manager.
More than 1,200 organizations contributed to the exhibit at the museum, which is the Smithsonian’s most-visited, with about 7 million visitors annually. It also is the most-visited natural history museum in the world, the Smithsonian said.
After its 18-month display in Washington, Dig It! is supposed to begin a national tour that brings the soils education message to venues across the country.
Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com