Soil Cation Exchange Capacity Lab

Healthy soil is a nutrient battery: negatively charged clay and humus particles hold positively charged nutrient ions — calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium — in a swappable exchange layer, releasing them to plant roots while resisting leaching. This simulator renders that exchange layer in 3D as a field of clay platelets and humus particles studded with colored cation sites. Dial in clay content, organic matter percentage and pH to watch the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) and base saturation readouts respond in real time using the same additive model soil labs use, then trigger a rainfall event and watch the exchange selectivity series play out: weakly-held sodium and potassium wash away first while calcium stays anchored, exactly as it does in a real leaching field trial.