Unique Nature of Pure Water
The type of bond that holds water molecules together.
What are hydrogen bonds?
The most abundant dissolved substance in seawater.
What is salt, mainly sodium chloride?
The amount of dissolved salts in water.
What is salinity?
The gas absorbed by oceans that contributes to acidification.
What is carbon dioxide (CO₂)?
The ocean zone that receives the most sunlight.
What is the epipelagic zone?
The property that allows water molecules to stick together.
What is cohesion?
The two main factors that affect seawater density.
What are temperature and salinity?
The average salinity of ocean water in parts per thousand.
What is about 35 parts per thousand (35 ppt)?
The process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using plants.
What is photosynthesis?
The ocean zone where enough sunlight is available for photosynthesis.
What is the epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone?
The reason ice floats on liquid water.
Why is ice less dense than liquid water?
The reason seawater is denser than pure water.
Why does dissolved salt make seawater denser than pure water?
Three major types of substances dissolved in seawater.
What are dissolved salts, gases, and nutrients?
The process in which carbon dioxide reacts with seawater and lowers its pH.
How does dissolved carbon dioxide lower ocean pH?
The ocean zone where sunlight decreases rapidly.
What is the mesopelagic zone, or twilight zone?
The way water's high heat capacity helps regulate Earth's climate.
How does water's high heat capacity help stabilize ocean temperatures and Earth's climate?
The effect of colder temperatures on seawater density.
How does decreasing temperature generally affect seawater density?
The reason seawater conducts electricity better than pure water.
Why do dissolved ions allow seawater to conduct electricity?
The reason ocean acidification makes it harder for corals and shellfish to build their shells.
Why does ocean acidification make shell-building more difficult for some marine organisms?
What are the epipelagic, mesopelagic, and deeper ocean zones?
The three main ocean zones classified by light availability.
The way hydrogen bonds explain water's cohesion, high heat capacity, and unusual freezing behavior.
How do hydrogen bonds cause cohesion, high heat capacity, and ice to be less dense than liquid water?
The density comparison between cold, salty seawater and warm, less salty seawater.
Why is cold, salty seawater generally denser than warm, less salty seawater?
The way dissolved ions affect seawater's electrical conductivity and chemical properties.
How do dissolved ions affect seawater's conductivity and chemical reactions?
The chain of effects that fossil fuel emissions have on the carbon cycle, ocean pH, and marine life.
How do fossil fuel emissions affect ocean chemistry and marine food webs?
The differences in sunlight, temperature, and marine life among the epipelagic, mesopelagic, and deeper ocean zones.
How do the epipelagic, mesopelagic, and deeper zones differ in light, temperature, and marine life?