At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Distinguish between mineral and organic soil;
• Understand soil as a 3-phase, open porous system;
• Understand how negative charges appear in soil particles and the importance of such phenomenon;
• Understand the atomic structure of soil phyllosilicates;
• Know the meaning of soil CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity);
• Understand the meaning of some basic physical soil characteristics: texture, structure, consistence, porosity, density and strength;
• Have some perspective of how such properties may help in dealing with agricultural, environmental and engineering scenarios.