Question

The initial percentage of water content taken for coarse-grained soil in proctor test is __________

(a) 4

(b) 10

(c) 25

(d) 50

This question was posed to me in a national level competition.

This intriguing question comes from Compaction topic in section Compaction of Geotechnical Engineering I

Answer 1

Right answer is (a) 4

The best explanation: The initial water content may be taken as 4 % for coarse-grained soils and 10 % for fine-grained soils as the quantity of water to be added for the first test depends on the probable optimum water content for the soil.