CompressibilityLearning Objective: | Recognize the degree to which seawater is compressible, and theimportance of this property. |
Seawater is nearly incompressible, its coefficient of compressibility being only 0.000046 per bar under standard conditions. This value changes slightly with changes in temperature or salinity. The effect of compression is to force the molecules of the substance closer together, causing the substance to become more dense. Even though the compressibility of seawater is low, the total effect is considerable because of the amount of water involved. If it were zero, sea level would be about 90 feet higher than it is now.
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