Why do things float on the dead sea?

Question

I know it haas something to do with density and salt but I am not entirely sure what I know!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Answer 1

The amount of salt in the dead sea is so dense that it outweighs most objects that go into it, hence the reason that people can float on top of the water.

It would be like if you were to step onto a patch of snow that you were heavier than, you would sink.

But if you stepped onto a patch of really thick snow that you weighed less than, you would grace on top of it.

Answer 2

Comparison between the chemical composition of the Dead Sea to other lakes and oceans show that the salt concentration in the Dead Sea is 31.5% (the salinity fluctuates somewhat). Because of its unusually high concentration of salt, anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy as a result of the higher density of the water. In this aspect, the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, in the United States.

Answer 3

Things float in the Dead Sea for the same reason they float in water. The floating items weigh less than the water they displace. The water in the Dead Sea is denser than fresh water, or even sea water because of the extremely high concentration of dissolved salts. (The Dead Sea doesn't drain into any other body of water. As a result, as water is lost due to evaporation, any salts left behind only keep getting more and more concentrated.) Items that would almost float in fresh or sea water will float in the heavier Dead Sea water.

Answer 4

In general, an object will float if it's density is less then the density of the liquid it is floating on.
The density of the water in the dead sea is very high because it has so much dissolved salt.
Things that are less dense than the concentrated salt water (including people) will float on it.
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Answer 5

Comparison between the chemical composition of the Dead Sea to other lakes and oceans show that the salt concentration in the Dead Sea is 31.5% (the salinity fluctuates somewhat). Because of its unusually high concentration of salt, anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy as a result of the higher density of the water. In this aspect, the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, in the United States.

Answer 6

Things float higher in the Dead Sea because, as you said, the water is more dense cause it has more salt content that other seas or fresh water. How high a thing floats depends on Archimedes principle, which he was pretty excited about, which says an object will be buoyed up by a force equivalent to the weight of the fluid it displaces. So if you are say, a boat that displaces five cubic feet of water, that water weights about 300 lbs. But DEAD SEA water would weight about 310. So a boat that weighed say, half that, 150 lbs would stick halfway up out of the water. (not really but this model works to explain) But in DEAD SEA water, it would stick up a little higher because it has a 310 lb force pushing it up insted of 300.

These numbers are not precise, but the concept is right.

Answer 7

Why one thing floats on another has to do with the DENSITY of the two
substances. The substance with lower density will float on top of a
substance of higher density. The density of a substance means how much
mass (or weight, so long as your still on planet Earth) it has per unit
volume. For instance, one gram of water takes up one milliliter of volume,
which means it's density is 1 gram/milliliter. The density of a human body
is fairly close to 1 gram/milliliter (abbreviated g/ml), but because
there's so much air in the body, it's density is slightly less than 1 g/ml.
Salt water is denser than plain water because the salt and the water
molecules stick to each other more efficiently than they do to themselves.
(You can test this: Try adding one cup of salt to two cups of water and
then measure how much volume of salt water you get--it will be less than
two cups. This means that you have just increased the weight of the water
without increasing it's volume, which means it has a higher density!)So in
the case of your experiment, the density of the egg is greater than that of
fresh water, but less than that of salt water.
As an aside, a couple years ago, I got to go to Israel and visit the Dead
Sea--named so because it is so salty (saline) almost nothing can grow in
it. It is considered to be a SATURATED solution, meaning that if you added
any more salt it would not be able to dissolve, but would remain in crystal
form. The water in the Dead Sea is so dense that it is difficult to avoid
floating in it! All you have to do is walk in, lean back a little, and
your legs just lift up and you float! It was pretty cool! Maybe you
should try and talk you teacher into a field trip!
I hope this answers your question. Feel free to write me if there's
anything that wasn't clear.

Answer 8

There are many other minerals and compounds in the water than just salt. If it were only salt, then we could float in the ocean. The presence of the minerals and the heavy concentrations of salt in the water increase the density of the water. This allows floatation.

Answer 9

High concentration of salt.
Because salt makes the water more dense, it can hold up heavier things.

Things float in all water by the way. The Dead Sea's high levels of salt is able to float more weight.

Answer 10

The Dead Sea is very salty and things float easier in salt water.