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.
Wuest, S. B., Reardon, C. L. Electrostatic Method to Remove Particulate Organic Matter from Soil. J. Vis. Exp. (168), e61915, doi:10.3791/61915 (2021).