Sea Water Lab Report

Since the dawn of man, humans have known about the presence of salt in the ocean. The first humans likely quickly discovered that salt water is not suitable for drinking. It is well documented that desalination processes were used in ancient civilizations. Sea water is not good for consumption because it creates an osmotic imbalance in the body. Osmosis is the flow of water through a semipermeable barrier from low to high concentration of a solvent to create balance. Salt causes an osmotic imbalance because it forms a hypertonic solution outside of cells, which causes the intracellular water to flow outward. The flow of water out of the cell causes the cell to shrink, which interferes with homeostatic processes by causing dehydration (Giuggio,2018).

First, 50 mL of the sample was placed into a 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask, and onto a stirring plate. Then, the pH of the solution was measured and adjusted to be within the range of 4 and 6, using nitric acid and sodium hydroxide. After the pH was optimal for the experiment, a single mL of indicator- acidifier reagent was added to the sample. Then, 50 mL of mercuric nitrate was place into a burette and titrated with the sample until the color of the solution turned from blue to purple. The volume of titrant used for the reaction to reach endpoint was recorded. Then, this process was repeated 2 more times, using deionized water and standard sodium chloride solution as the

It was important for the pH to be adjusted properly so that the endpoint of the reaction of sodium chloride with mercuric nitrate could be indicated. Nitric acid was used to lower the pH, and sodium hydroxide was used to raise it. In equation 1, A represents milliliters of mercuric nitrate used for the titration of the VA pond sample. Value B represents by the volume of the titrant used to titrate the deionized control sample. The N value stands for the normality of mercuric nitrate. The volume of the titrant used to titrate the control sample was subtracted by the amount used to titrate the sample, then multiplied by the normality and 35,450. Then that value was divided by the volume of the test sample, which was 50 milliliters. This calculated value is the concentration of chlorine in milligrams per liter. As shown in equation 1, after milligrams of chlorine per liter were found, the calculated