Joey Duffy
Blk 3
Mrs. Calvin
Ocean Chemistry
In today’s society we use the ocean for a lot of different things. Some people use it for leisure activities such as swimming or relaxing at the beach, some use it to pursue careers such as surfing, and others thrive off of it for business such as transportation. Even though all of these are true many people do not know about science behind this giant body of water. Many of us know about the Marine Biology portion of the ocean but not too many of us know about the chemistry portion. The ocean contains more aspects of chemistry than most people could imagine whether it be in the contents that the water holds, or the chemical state that it is in.
As most people know the ocean is salt water. Water being H20 and salt being NaCl. Different areas of the ocean contain different amounts of each. Due to the different levels of salt it also changes the levels of density areas with more salt are typically less dense and it is easier to float. The temperature of the water also determines the surface tension and how large or small and object has to b to stay on the surface. There are many factors that determine the characteristics of certain waters.
The water molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms that are weakly bonded to one oxygen atom. The two hydrogens are only slightly positive and the oxygen is only slightly negative, where positives and negatives attract, this makes a weak bond. The water that is present in the marine environment can be there as a solid liquid or gas. As the water molecules move faster, do to the increasing of heat, they begin to form into a vapor. Water turns completely into a vapor at 100 degrees Celsius and into a solid, or ice, at 0 degrees Celsius. When the water freezes into ice it becomes less dense than water because the particles have moved further apart due to the expansion of the molecule (Kesson). Due to the amount of density ice is able to float.
Another major characteristic...