{"id":608,"date":"2017-02-21T08:08:18","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.experimentoscientificos.es\/?p=608"},"modified":"2017-04-04T09:14:24","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T09:14:24","slug":"salinidad-mar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.experimentoscientificos.es\/en\/agua\/agua-de-mar\/salinidad-mar\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Water Salinity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sea salinity, or water salinity, is one of the most complicated factors affecting the seas and oceans.<\/p>\n

Seawater has an average salinity of 35o\/oo, i.e. 35 grams per litre of water. One way to check this for yourself would be to take 1 litre of seawater and let the water evaporate and then weigh the remaining solid. Although a priori it is a simple experiment, you would have to filter out any sand that may be dissolved in the water beforehand.<\/p>\n

The most common salts dissolved in seawater are: Sodium Chloride (common salt), sulphates and calcium bicarbonate (thanks to which the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is regulated). However, seawater contains up to 2\/3 of the naturally occurring chemical elements, although most of them only as traces. Six components make up 99% of the solutes in water. In the table below you can see all the components of seawater.<\/p>\n

There are now natural currents that support drinking or cooking with seawater as something healthy for our body, since we provide it with salts that we cannot get otherwise. If you are more interested in the subject, there are books on the benefits of drinking seawater<\/a>. Regarding the debate on high salinity, it is a matter of drinking it dissolved in tap water, so that it lowers the 35 o\/oo to 7 o\/oo of salts of which our blood is composed. There are also articles against the benefits of seawater<\/a>. In our opinion, it may be interesting, but with care, as it may contain traces of pollutants or harmful metals.<\/p>\n

SEA SALINITY: COMPARATIVES<\/h2>\n

At first glance, one would think that the Dead Sea, known for its high salt content, would be the sea with the highest salinity. The high salinity of the Dead Sea even prevents the life of living creatures. However, it must be taken into account that the Dead Sea is not an open sea, but a lake of the Jordan River, so the composition and salinity is not comparable to that of other seas and oceans.<\/p>\n

Small seas, such as the Mediterranean, due to the evaporation of the water, tend to be saltier than larger oceans, although as you can see in the following NASA video, some areas of the Atlantic Ocean are also very salty. NASA, with its Aquariums project, has been making radio measurements of the salinity of the seas and oceans, resulting in this video with the results, which is very interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Water salinity<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Freshwater<\/th>\nBrackish water<\/th>\nSeawater<\/th>\nBrine<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
< 0,05 %<\/th>\n0,05 - 3 %<\/th>\n3 - 5 %<\/th>\n> 5 %<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
< 0,5 g\/L<\/th>\n0.5 - 30 g\/L<\/th>\n30 - 50 g\/L<\/th>\n> 50 g\/L<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As we have been saying, density depends on salinity and temperature, but in average values of 25\u00ba and 1atm (practically at the surface), salinity would be the one that corresponds in this table:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

SEA<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

\n

SALINITY<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

\n

DENSITY 25\u00ba 1atm<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Distilled water<\/td>\n0 g\/L<\/td>\n998g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tap water<\/td>\n3 g\/L<\/td>\n1000 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Baltic Sea<\/td>\n6 - 18 g\/L<\/td>\n1006-1008 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North Sea<\/td>\n32 g\/L<\/td>\n1026 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oceans<\/td>\n33 - 37 g\/L<\/td>\n1027 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mediterranean Sea<\/td>\n38 g\/L<\/td>\n1028 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Red Sea \/ Persian Gulf<\/td>\n38 - 43 g\/L<\/td>\n1033 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dead Sea<\/td>\n230 g\/L<\/td>\n230 g\/cm3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As you can see, salinity and density, at standard temperature, are closely related. This is normal since the density of water above 1000 is given precisely by the salt content. Density is not a fixed value like salinity, as density depends on the temperature and pressure of the water. This is why it is often preferred to work with salinity instead of density. From distilled water, which has 0 salinity, to the Dead Sea with 230 grams of salts per litre of water. The Dead Sea is not technically a sea, it is a lake where the Jordan River flows into the sea. Its salt composition is therefore different from other seas or oceans.<\/p>\n