Physical Properties of Sea Water
What do we call the amount of dissolved salt in seawater?
What is salinity?
What is the chemical formula for water?
What is H2O?
What is the most abundant dissolved substance in seawater besides water itself?
What are dissolved salts?
What gas is released into the atmosphere when people burn fossil fuels?
What is carbon dioxide (CO2)?
What is the name of the ocean’s sunlit surface layer?
What is the epipelagic zone?
What is the average salinity of ocean water, measured in parts per thousand?
What is about 35 parts per thousand ?
What type of bond holds the hydrogen and oxygen atoms together inside a water molecule?
What is a covalent bond?
Which two elements make up table salt, or sodium chloride?
What are sodium and chlorine?
What happens to some atmospheric carbon dioxide when it enters the ocean?
It dissolves in seawater.
What is the name of the zone where sunlight becomes very weak and temperatures often decrease quickly with depth?
What is the mesopelagic zone?
What happens to the density of seawater when its salinity increases, assuming temperature stays the same?
Its density increases.
What is the name for the attraction between water molecules caused by their slightly charged ends?
What are hydrogen bonds?
What is the name for substances that dissolve in water and allow it to carry dissolved materials?
What are solutes?
What is the name of the process in which ocean water becomes more acidic because it absorbs carbon dioxide?
What is ocean acidification?
Which ocean zone lies between about 1,000 and 4,000 meters deep and receives no sunlight?
What is the bathypelagic zone?
How does increasing water depth affect pressure in the ocean?
Pressure increases as depth increases because more water is above you.
What property allows water to absorb a lot of heat before its temperature rises very much?
What is high specific heat?
Name two important dissolved gases found in seawater that marine organisms need or use.
What are oxygen and carbon dioxide?
How can ocean acidification make it harder for corals and shell-building animals to grow?
It reduces the availability of carbonate ions needed to build calcium carbonate shells and skeletons.
What is the name of the deepest ocean zone, found below about 6,000 meters?
What is the hadalpelagic zone?
Two samples of seawater have the same salinity, but one is colder. Which sample is usually denser, and why?
The colder sample is usually denser because colder seawater has a higher density.
Why does solid water (ice) float on liquid water, and why is this important for ocean life?
Ice is less dense than liquid water, so it floats and can help protect the water below from freezing completely.
Why can seawater conduct electricity better than pure water?
Seawater contains dissolved ions that carry electrical charges through the water.
Explain how burning fossil fuels can affect ocean chemistry and harm marine ecosystems.
Burning fossil fuels increases atmospheric CO2
Compare the epipelagic and abyssopelagic zones in terms of sunlight, temperature, and the adaptations organisms need to survive.
The epipelagic zone receives sunlight and is generally warmer, supporting photosynthesis and many marine organisms. The abyssopelagic zone receives no sunlight and is very cold, so organisms must survive without photosynthesis and adapt to high pressure and limited food.