USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Soil and Water Conservation Research Unit 1 article published in JoVE Environment Electrostatic Method to Remove Particulate Organic Matter from Soil Stewart B Wuest1, Catherine L Reardon1 1USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Soil and Water Conservation Research Unit Removing recently deposited and incompletely decomposed plant material from soil samples reduces the influence of temporary seasonal inputs on soil organic carbon measurements. Attraction to an electrostatically charged surface can be used to quickly remove a substantial amount of particulate organic matter.