Raegen

**Title**
= = Salinity is the amount of salt in water.

=Introduction=


I am doing this experiment to know where the saltiest body of water is. I have samples from the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, 2 from the Gulf of Mexico, and 2 from the Mediterranean Sea. 

**Question/problem**
Which water is the saltiest of the following: Destin Florida, Freeport Texas, Amalfi Italy, Nice France, San Diego California, and Ocean City Maryland?

**Educated guess**
 The highest salinity should be the Mediterranean Sea because the temperature is high and there is more evaporation, and the lowest salinity should be Ocean City, Maryland because there is a low amount of evaporation and lots of rain.

**Step by Step** **Procedures** First, I gathered all the materials. Second, I grabbed the sample from Nice France, one beaker, and the Syringe. Third, I paced the beaker onto the scale and clicked T.A.R.E. Forth, I opened the sample and took out 1 teaspoon of water with the syringe and put the water in the beaker. Fifth, I put the beaker into the microwave for 60 seconds stopping it every 5 seconds to minimize boiling. Sixth, I carefully pulled the beaker out of the microwave and set it on the Weight and recorded the amount. I then repeated these steps for the other five samples.

**Materials**
• microwave • water samples from Destin Florida, Freeport Texas, Amalfi Italy, Nice France, San Diego California, and Ocean City Maryland. • a scale that measures in a tenth of a gram • syringe that measures a teaspoon • 6 small microwavable cups

Analysis
I learned in this experiment what salinity is, how to test it, and where the highest salinity is between Destin Florida, Freeport Texas, Amalfi Italy, Nice France, San Diego California, and Ocean City Maryland. The highest salinity is the Mediterranean Sea. The lowest Salinity is The Pacific Ocean.

**Conclusion**
 Destin Florida 0.2 grams Freeport Texas 0.2 grams Amalfi Italy 0.3 grams San Diego California 0.1 grams Ocean City Maryland 0.2 grams Nice France 0.3 grams

My hypothesis was partially correct and partially incorrect. Nice, France and Amalfi, Italy had the highest salinity. But San Diego, California had the lowest salinity instead of Ocean City, Maryland.

**Bibliography**
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 * Science 101 Ocean Science

Water Science Fair projects**

**Further Questions **
Would changing the way you evaporated the water affect the results? If you get samples from deeper in the ocean will they have the same result? Why does salt water spark in the microwave?

**Background research**
Total dissolved salt is when you evaporate the the water and weigh the solid residue remaining. Electrical conductivity is measured by passing an electric current between two metal plates in the water sample and measuring how readily current flows between the plates. The more dissolved salt in the water, the stronger the current flow and the higher the electrical conductivity. Measurements of EC can be used to give an estimate of TDS.

Salt DOES dissolve in water When salt dissolves into water the salt is still there, but you can not see it. If you evaporate the water, there will be the same amount of salt left that you put in the water.

How much salt can water hold? You can keep adding salt until water has reached its saturation point. Once at the saturation point, you can add salt, however it will settle out quickly. On average sea water is 35 parts per thousand (or 3.5%) some oceans are lower or higher.

What effect salanity in oceans? If there is more evaporation than precipitation the salinity increases because salt doesn't evaporate. If there is more precipitation than evaporation the salinity decreases because more water is added to the same amount of salt. Other examples of decreasing salinity are rain, melting icebergs, snow, and rivers.

Have you ever thought about that maybe when you take a sample near places where a river dumps into a ocean, the fresh water will float on top of the salt water? Your sample may be like getting a sample from the river rather than the ocean.