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Education: Classroom Activities

+ Salinity Basics + Classroom Activities + Concept Map + Salinity Data & Tools + Links

A goal of Aquarius is demonstrating how improved understanding of salinity-driven circulation – and its influence on climate and the water cycle – can benefit student learning. Sea surface salinity is key to learning about the water cycle because 86% of global evaporation and 78% of global precipitation occur over the oceans. Our "Salinity Patterns & the Water Cycle" resources are aligned with the National Science Education Standards for Physical Science (grades K - 12).

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"Hands on" laboratory activities:
		Potato Float Understand how the same object can both sink and float, depending on its density relative to a fluid
		Liquid Rainbow Use analytical thinking by devising schemes to stack solutions of different densities
		The Water Cycle - Now You See It, Now You Don't Learn about the relationship between temperature and condensation
		Evaporation Investigation Observe and understand the process of evaporation
		Can Sea Water Freeze? Freeze liquids of varying salinity & learn how it relates to the buoyancy of sea ice and icebergs
		Properties of Fresh & Sea Water Conduct experiments on the boiling point, freezing point, and heat capacity of fresh water and sea water
		Density: Sea Water Mixing & Sinking Sea Water Mixing & Sinking Use temperature-salinity (T-S) diagrams to understand the importance of seawater density studies
		Electrolysis of Salt Water Conduct an experiment to see that water can be split into its constituent ions through the process of electrolysis
		The Nature of Salt Students research the structure of salt to understand the difference between molecular compounds and ionic compounds

Questions or comments? Contact Annette deCharon, Senior Marine Education Scientist and Aquarius EPO Manager

Glossary Words

climate: The prevailing or normal pattern of weather at a place, or in a region, averaged over a long period of time; in contrast to weather, which is the state of the atmosphere at a particular time.

conductivity: A measure of the ability of a material to conduct or transmit an electric charge.

evaporation: The physical process of converting a liquid to a gas. Commonly considered to occur at a temperature below the boiling point of the liquid.

practical salinity unit (psu): Used to describe the concentration of dissolved salts in water, the UNESCO Practical Salinity Scale of 1978 (PSS78) defines salinity in terms of a conductivity ratio, so it is dimensionless. Salinity was formerly expressed in terms of parts per thousand (ppt) or by weight (parts per thousand or 0/00). That is, a salinity of 35 ppt meant 35 pounds of salt per 1,000 pounds of seawater. Open ocean salinity is generally in the range from 32 to 37.

precipitation: Water released from the atmosphere in the form of rain, snow, hail, or sleet from the atmosphere onto Earth's surface.

salinity: A measure of the quantity of dissolved solids in ocean water. In general, salinity reflects the total amount of dissolved solids in ocean water in parts per thousand by weight after all carbonate has been converted to oxide, the bromide and iodide to chloride, and all the organic matter oxidized. Salinity is now measured as practical salinity units (psu).

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