Why cant we drink salt water (marine)?

Question

I mean I have heard people talking that water is scarce and all those kinds of things but cant we just drink salt water. I know its not good for bones and stuff but we can still survive.

I thought of drinking salt water from my fish tank but it looked yucky, instead I mixed common salt in water and drank it but it wasnt that bad.

Answer 1

It will actually dehydrate you, at least that was the impression I get.

Answer 2

Salt water not only dries out your mouth but the cells in your body too. As it enters your body, the cells near it release water to reach equilibrium with the surrounding fluid. The cells shrink and may become damaged. This is a condition called dehydration, or excessive water loss.

Salt can be removed by distillation. However, it's an expensive process to create enough for drinking water or agriculture.

Answer 3

Salt water from the sea isn't good 4 our body,
because:
(1) the concentration of salt in sea water is much
higher than what do we consume in daily life.
(2)our body cells may get damage due the high
concentration of salt (seawater).
(3)sea water contains many microorganisms that can
corrode our organs and this will cause failure for our
body 2 function well.

That's why sea water isn't save to drink compared to
pipe water.Care 4 ur health.

Answer 4

Because we are not fish !

Seriously, sea water is salt water. You can drink a glass of it once in a while. If you drink only salt water, your kidney will shut down trying to get rid of the salt and you develop other problems related to sodium imbalance. Salt is sodium chloride

Answer 5

The salt water contains too many salt for human beings to drink. The more salt water you drink the thirstier you will be. The human body cannot take too much of salt and it needs a balance.

Answer 6

You can drink some salt water as soon as fresh water is also consumed. Drinking only salt water causes dehydration in that the body's cells try to dilute the salt water to isotonic levels. When you need fluids in your blood, a 5% water solution (D5W) is often used.

Answer 7

If we were to drink salt water, and our blood plasma takes in the salt water, the salt in the water takes up space that the water molecules would normally take up. In effect, there is a lower concentration of water molecules in salt water. The water that is contained within the cells, is low in salt. That means there is a higher concentration of water molecules within the cells. So instead of water entering the cells to replenish them, water actually leaves the cells, dehydrating the cells even more. The more salt water you drink, the thirstier you become, until the major systems of your body start to shut down.

Answer 8

The reason we can't just drink salt water is that there is more salt in the water by percent than in our bodies... the result is that we actually become dehydrated when drinking it, and eventually die.

Desalination is necessary in order render the water usable by the human body.

-dh

Answer 9

Well, scientist found out that we can drink sea water, but after we treat that water. It is that kind of treatment that gets salt out of water because of the reasons other people named... So treated water is completely safe for drinking, but this kind of treatment is very expensive.

Answer 10

A steady diet of sea water will cause the sodium (salt) which is a natural diuretic, which means it pulls fluid out of cells and causes dehydration progressing to organ destruction to death.

Answer 11

They actually need it for their health and growth, why do you think they are mostly found near beaches? are you misting them properly? If they have lived this long im sure you are... just keep putting salt water in there... dilute it like the previous post said but do not let them go too long without it.