Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

For my project, I wanted to plant plants in soils of different levels of metal contamination. I want to control the concentration of my metal in the soil. How can I do this?

Based on the studies I have read, it seems like I would create a solution of the metal and water and pour it onto the soil. I am wondering on if this is correct, and if so how would you evenly distribute the metal throughout the soil. Honestly, the studies I have read have been very vague/unclear on how they contaminated their soils in a controlled manner, so I would really appreciate an explanation of the "accepted" scientific way to do this.

Any additional reading materials/resources would be greatly appreciated as well! Thank you for your time to read this.

I think this should work as long as you mix the soil thoroughly. Another option is to just mix in the fine metal particles directly. Be careful! Use protection like a mask or better yet a fume hood so as not to breathe it in!