2006-07-17 01:58:28 · 21 answers · asked by basketball_mad 1 in Environment
you just need to purify & take the salt out- a lot of countries in the middle east have huge desalination plants that remove the salt from sea water so they can provide tap water etc for their population. otherwise the salt content is so high that it doesn't taste good and will dehydrate you
2006-07-17 02:03:39 · answer #1 · answered by littlemo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We can't drink sea water because of its salt content. Too much salt is poisonous to the body, and so if you consume too much salt you need to get rid of it... and the easiest way to do this is through urine - so your body will actually excrete more water getting rid of the salt than you have swallowed.
It is possible to purify the water. One straightforward way is to boil the water and collect the steam. The salt is left in your saucepan (or whatever else you are heating the water in.)
Unfortunately on large scales this is expensive and dirty - you need a lot of energy, and the salt and other impurities left behind clog up your machinery and pollute the environment. Nethetheless some dry countries do use desalination plants, and even the UK is looking into them as an option.
2006-07-17 09:09:02 · answer #2 · answered by robcraine 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We cannot drink sea water because it's saline, meaning it has salt, as well as a number of other dissolved minerals in it. It can be cleaned using a reverse osmosis treatment system. (basically a pump forces the water through a fine filter, leaving the dissolved minerals on one side and fresh water comes out the other). The thing is it's an expensive system to build, and expensive to run. At need though, yes it can be done. Saudi Arabia has a number of these plants, and the US runs one on the Colorado river before it runs into Mexico.
2006-07-17 09:04:25 · answer #3 · answered by Oilfield 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
salt absorbs water really well.
if you drink seawater then the more you drink the thirstier you feel, this can lead to a people going crazy and drinking alot more sea water than they should. This can cause impaired renal function and death if too much is drunk.
Though it has been suggested by Etzion Z and Yagil R. (1987) that you can drink seawater if stranded at sea, but you must be careful and drink seawater with freshwater and slowly increase the concentration of seawater. This extends the time it takes before pure seawater needs to be drunk and should result in only minor metabolic changes.
These findings were based on a study on rats.
2006-07-17 12:15:57 · answer #4 · answered by Dirk Wellington-Catt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Salt water AKA Sea-water Can be de-salinified. Meaning you can take the salt from it, purify it and drink it, which in my opinion would be the best way for the States to lessen the effect of having no water. Instead of all these oil plants and such they should worry about putting a de-salinization plant on the coast and transforming Sea-water to pure drinking water.
2006-07-17 09:02:52 · answer #5 · answered by surf_jayme 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There probably is a way to clean it but think about it - they've experimented with nuclear weapons in the sea - we may start turning into mutants! And if we were able to drink it, in x amount of years there'd be none left and it would be a disaster. There are billions of people in the world and it would simply get used up. Then we wouldn't have rain etc - I won't go into it scientifically but you can work out the effects.
2006-07-17 09:08:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the sea water contains a formation of many ( salts ) like sudiom cloride and some other salts and of course some blanktons .
the sea water is already uesd in home , how is this ?
They use a something called ( destilling station ) it vaborises the sea water and make liquid again after dposing all the unwanted things from it .
This technique is used in many desert countries .
2006-07-17 09:03:33 · answer #7 · answered by medhatmohebelabd2003 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Arab countries and some island nations have built water treatment plants to make fresh water from the ocean. The Navy also makes fresh water for crew use from the salt water they travel through. However, if a natural source of fresh water is available, cost-wise it is much cheaper to use it than to distill it from salty stuff.
2006-07-17 09:07:24 · answer #8 · answered by fishing66833 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The salt in the sea water would make you thirstier than before you drank it.
Yes, it can be processed - That is what they do in places like Oman and it is being considered for the Thames estuary.
The problem with processing is that it takes a lot of energy.
2006-07-17 09:05:36 · answer #9 · answered by Martin G 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Humans can't drink salt water because the kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.
Ocean water can be treated, but the process is expensive
2006-07-17 09:05:15 · answer #10 · answered by oz_gurl2005 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋