What is Salt water?
[[File:Beagle Channel - La Isla de Los Lobos.jpg|thumb|The water from this place is salt water]] '''Salt water''' (or '''saline water''') is water with a large amount of [[salt]] in it. It usually means the [[water]] from the [[sea]]s and [[ocean]]s ('''sea water'''). Almost all the water on Earth is saline. River water, however, is usually not saline. Salt water used for making or [[food preservation|preserving food]], is usually saltier than sea water and is called '''[[brine]]'''. Drinking sea water alone is dangerous. A summary of 163 life raft voyages showed the risk of death at 39% for those who drank seawater, compared to 3% for those who did not. Experiments on rats showed the danger.<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1016/0300-9629(87)90275-1| title=Metabolic effects in rats drinking increasing concentrations of seawater.| journal= Comp Biochem Physiol A.| date=1987| pages=49–55| pmid=2881655| author=Etzion Z. & Yagil R.| volume=86| issue=1}}</ref> When scientists [[measure]] salt in water, they are testing the '''[[salinity]]''' of the water. Salinity is measured in ''parts per thousand'' or ''ppt''. Most sea water is about 35 ppt salt. [[Salt lake]]s can be up to ten times as salty. Above that level [[precipitation]] creates a [[salt plain]]. [[Brackish water]], in contrast, is less salty than seawater. Salt water is more [[dense]] than fresh water. Fresh water has a [[density]] of 1 g/ml, while salty seawater has an average density of about 1.025 g/ml. == Related pages == * [[Desalination]] * [[Fresh water]] * [[Water cycle]] ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Oceanography]] [[Category:Water]]