Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: neilep on 16/09/2008 20:05:53
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Dearest Rainologists,
As a sheepy I of course love to take walks in the rain. Despite being mistaken for a deity sheep I find that walking on water is not in the sheepy manual. Floating yes, floating I can do, I luff to float and I do in fact make a good floatation device.
*side note: Why does “flotation device” make me think of big boobs ?*
Anyway,
See my rainy sea ?
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Nice eh ?..being delivered next Tuesday.
I’m curious though, Is the rain at sea salty ?...how salty is it ?...or does rain kind of average out it’s salinity where ever it rains ?
Ewe see, I just don’t know…..do ewe ?
Thank ewe for your sea salt orientated rain answers
Hugs et les shmisheys
Neil
Saline Sea Sheepy
Mwah mwah mwah
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I would think with all the evaporation it would be salty but then I think that salt is so heavy that I think it would not evaporate but rather sink and stay down leaving the rain clouds less salty.. but I could be trying to reason it into my some what untaught twisted brain! LOL
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No. Salt does not evaporate with the water.
Think about it - water that evaporates from the sea could fall as rain over land. If salt evaporated with the water then rivers & lakes would also be salty.
Try a simple experiment. Get a saucer of brine & leave it on a windowsill. Eventually the water will evaporate & you will be left with a salty sediment in the saucer.
Say "Thank you, Doc" [;D]
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No. Salt does not evaporate with the water.
Think about it - water that evaporates from the sea could fall as rain over land. If salt evaporated with the water then rivers & lakes would also be salty.
Try a simple experiment. Get a saucer of brine & leave it on a windowsill. Eventually the water will evaporate & you will be left with a salty sediment in the saucer.
Say "Thank you, Doc" [;D]
It's taken me a while but "THANK EWE DOC" !
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Is the rain at sea salty ?
Yes, it is possible that rain can be salty. If you lived near the coast then it could be that salt acted as the condensation nuclei for the rain. It is also possible that the falling rain could pick up some salt from spray, if there was a storm for example.
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No. Salt does not evaporate with the water.
Think about it - water that evaporates from the sea could fall as rain over land. If salt evaporated with the water then rivers & lakes would also be salty.
Try a simple experiment. Get a saucer of brine & leave it on a windowsill. Eventually the water will evaporate & you will be left with a salty sediment in the saucer.
Say "Thank you, Doc" [;D]
I am posting to say Thank you doc.. Maybe I am not so dumb after all!
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Is the rain at sea salty ?
Yes, it is possible that rain can be salty. If you lived near the coast then it could be that salt acted as the condensation nuclei for the rain. It is also possible that the falling rain could pick up some salt from spray, if there was a storm for example.
Thank ewe Paul
Should I retract my thanks to the Beave ? [;)]
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Start retracting, Sheepy!
Every rain drop has some piece of "something" in the middle that the water attaches to (or condenses on, to be more correct). Generally, this is a bit of dust or something and is referred to as the "condensation nuclei."
The particles may be composed of dust or clay, soot or black carbon from grassland or forest fires, sea salt from ocean wave spray, soot from factory smokestacks or internal combustion engines, sulfate from volcanic activity, phytoplankton or the oxidation of sulfur dioxide and secondary organic matter formed by the oxidation of volatile organic compounds.
A typical raindrop is about 2 mm in diameter, a typical cloud droplet is on the order of 0.02 mm, and a typical cloud condensation nucleus (aerosol) is on the order of 0.0001 mm or 0.1 micrometer or greater in diameter.
Now, here's the kicker!
"Rainwater gets its compositions largely by dissolving particulate materials in the atmosphere (upper troposhere) when droplets of water nucleate on atmospheric particulates, and secondarily by dissolving gasses from the atmosphere. Rainwater compositions vary geographically. In open ocean and coastal areas they have a salt content essentially like that of sea water (same ionic proportions but much more dilute) plus CO2 as bicarbonate anion (acidic pH)."
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/rain2.html
But, as a caveat to the Beave, this is ionic, so it wouldn't taste salty like seawater. It is so dilute that it could be considered effectively non-salty.
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So the question must be asked, why is sea water salty in the first place? I think some bored geologist might have the answer. I think I know but need confirmation.
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Because, as Doc Beaver said, the salt doesn't evaporate. Small bits of it can enter the air as a particulate, but the majority of salts deposited in the oceans from the continents remains in solution in the seawater.
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So the question must be asked, why is sea water salty in the first place? I think some bored geologist might have the answer. I think I know but need confirmation.
Runoff from rains and rivers leached ions from soils and rocks (part of the chemical weathering process) and, over the past four and a half billion years or so, dumped these ions into our oceans. Cations and anions decided to fornicate (after all...opposites attract) and became salts :)
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Start retracting, Sheepy!
Every rain drop has some piece of "something" in the middle that the water attaches to (or condenses on, to be more correct). Generally, this is a bit of dust or something and is referred to as the "condensation nuclei."
The particles may be composed of dust or clay, soot or black carbon from grassland or forest fires, sea salt from ocean wave spray, soot from factory smokestacks or internal combustion engines, sulfate from volcanic activity, phytoplankton or the oxidation of sulfur dioxide and secondary organic matter formed by the oxidation of volatile organic compounds.
A typical raindrop is about 2 mm in diameter, a typical cloud droplet is on the order of 0.02 mm, and a typical cloud condensation nucleus (aerosol) is on the order of 0.0001 mm or 0.1 micrometer or greater in diameter.
Now, here's the kicker!
"Rainwater gets its compositions largely by dissolving particulate materials in the atmosphere (upper troposhere) when droplets of water nucleate on atmospheric particulates, and secondarily by dissolving gasses from the atmosphere. Rainwater compositions vary geographically. In open ocean and coastal areas they have a salt content essentially like that of sea water (same ionic proportions but much more dilute) plus CO2 as bicarbonate anion (acidic pH)."
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/rain2.html
But, as a caveat to the Beave, this is ionic, so it wouldn't taste salty like seawater. It is so dilute that it could be considered effectively non-salty.
I respectfully retract my thanks
I respectfully also retract my respectfulness !
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Thank ewe Paul
Should I retract my thanks to the Beave ? [;)]
I see you already have, but I would have said yes.