5.13.2: Chapter Questions
- Page ID
- 47039
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What are the principal sources and sinks of elements dissolved in seawater? Explain why the totals of these sources and sinks must be approximately balanced.
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Why are some elements present in high concentrations in seawater, whereas others are present in much lower concentrations?
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Why is the solubility of carbon dioxide in seawater so high?
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The water molecule is polar. Why does this property give water a high latent heat of vaporization?
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In Florida citrus groves, growers often try to encourage ice crystals to grow on the trees and fruit during unusually cold nights when the air temperature drops below freezing. Explain how the physical properties of water and ice make this an effective method for protecting the citrus fruit from being frozen and damaged.
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Why is it easier for a person to float in the ocean than in freshwater?
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If ice were dense enough that it always sank, how would lakes behave in winter? How might the oceans be different?
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What is surface tension, and why is this property of water important in the ocean? Why is the high surface tension of water important in our everyday life? The surface tension of water is reduced by the addition of detergents. How and why is that effect useful to us?
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Why is it dark deep in the oceans? Why can we not easily see the bottoms of streams and rivers?
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What do we need to know about the properties of the ocean water beneath a ship if we want to use sonar to measure the depth accurately? Why does sound travel long distances in ocean water?
Critical Thinking Questions
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Describe all the ways that you can think of in which the Earth would be different if the water molecule were not polar.
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Continental rocks and soils are constantly leached as freshwater dissolves ions and gases in rocks and transports them to the oceans. However, it is thought that the concentration and composition of dissolved salts in the oceans has remained approximately the same for hundreds of millions of years. Explain how this stability is possible and explain why the hundreds of millions of years of leaching have not depleted the concentrations of such soluble elements as sodium and potassium in terrestrial rocks.
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In this chapter the concept of steady-state processes is illustrated by an analogy of pouring orange juice into a glass filled with water. (a) List some processes that occur in our homes, industry, or economy that are steady-state processes in the sense that the outputs change in response to changes in the inputs (or vice versa). (b) How quickly does this response lead to a new steady state in the examples you have given, and how would changes in inputs or outputs in your example produce temporal changes equivalent to the changes in “concentration” of the “substance” in the “box” discussed in CC8?
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If water’s heat capacity and latent heat of vaporization were much lower, would we still have rain, and would puddles of rainwater behave differently? Explain your answer. Describe some of the things that would be different in your everyday life.
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If we look through the water of a swimming pool, we can see the bottom. If the water surface is calm, the tiles and lane markings appear clear and sharp. However, if the surface is disturbed, even if only by tiny ripples, these markings appear indistinct and seem to shimmer. Why?

