Properties of seawaterLearning Objective: | Identify the three most important properties of seawater, as well as some of the more common and lesser known properties. |
Temperature, pressure, and salinity are the three most important properties of seawater, and they determine the other physical properties associated with seawater. This differs from pure water, where only pressure and temperature determine the physical properties. Wave motion and the presence of small suspended particles in seawater are also important variables that affect the properties of seawater. Wave motion causes a change in the processes of chemical diffusion, heat conduction, and transfer of momentum from one layer to another. The suspended particles increase the scattering of radiation, thereby absorbing more radiation than a similar layer (thickness) of pure water. The variables of wave motion and suspended particles, although important, cannot be measured.In addition to temperature, pressure, and salinity, other common physical properties of seawater are water color, transparency, ice (which we’ve already covered in our discussion of the surface), and sound velocity. Some of the lesser known properties include specific heat, compressibility, osmotic pressure, eddy viscosity, electrical conductivity, radioactivity, and surface tension. Many of the lesser known properties can only be determined using complex mathematical calculation and formulation that incorporates data on one or more of the common physical properties, especially temperature, pressure, and/or salinity.
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