Removing the Salt From Saltwater Experiment 1.2

I. Materials Used

• 2 T Kroger sea salt
• 1 cup Kroger purified water
• 1 metal measuring tablespoon
• 1 small metal pot
• 1 metal spoon for stirring
• 1 small clear glass bowl
• 1 shelf outside in the sun since it was pretty weather. Otherwise would have used a sunny windowsill.

II. Procedure

Step 1. Used a liquid measuring cup of water and poured 1 cup of Kroger purified water into the saucepan.

Step 2. Placed the pot of water on the stove on medium heat. Heated water until it was steaming, but not boiling.

Step 3. Added 2 tablespoons of Kroger sea salt to the water while it was heating.

Step 4. Stirred the water until the salt was dissolved and the water became clear again.

Step 5. Turned off the stove and removed the saucepan.

Step 6. Placed 2 tablespoons of the saltwater mixture in a small clear glass bowl. Made sure that there was no undissolved salt in this liquid.

Step 7. Cleaned up everything except the bowl with salt water in it.

Step 8. Let the bowl of saltwater sit outside on a shelf in the sun for two days.

Step 9. Observed what was in the bowl after 2 days outside in the sun.

Step 10. Cleaned up and returned everything to its proper place.

III. Observation

After the water evaporated, the salt left a thin, hard layer on the bottom surface of the bowl. These salt crystals looked and felt different than those originally used. The salt crystals that remained after the water evaporated were more square in shape than the original salt, which was more diamond shape.  The size was also much smaller and milky white in color than they were originally from the box. The left over crystals felt very breakable and were very easy to crumble just using the fingers to rub them together. The salt in the original form was very hard and would not crumble like these crystals left over in the experiment.

IV. Conclusion

When removing salt from salt water, as the water evaporates, the salt molecules come together sticking to the hard surface of the container that is holding the salt water. The salt crystals that have re-formed are different from the salt crystals that came from the container that were originally used. Since the crystals were broken down and dissolved by water and then put back together as the water evaporated, their size, shape, and hardness changed. Water levels can change; however, the amount of salt will always remain the same as long as the container remains the same. So the lower the level of water to a set amount of salt, the higher the salinity would be. The more water level in a container for a set amount of salt, the less salinity or salty that water would be.