What is the scientific difference between saltwater and freshwater?

Answer 1

Salt water is water that contains a certain amount of salts. This means that its conductivity is higher and its taste much saltier when one drinks it. Salt water is not suited to be used as drinking water, because salt drains water from human bodies. When humans drink salt water they risk dehydration. If we want to drink seawater, it needs to be desalinated first. Salt water can be found everywhere on the surface of the earth, in the oceans, in rivers and in saltwater ponds. About 71% of the earth is covered with salt water.

Freshwater is water with a dissolved salt concentration of less than 1%. There are two kinds of freshwater reservoirs: standing bodies of freshwater, such as lakes, ponds and inland wetlands and floating bodies of freshwater, such as streams and rivers. These bodies of water cover only a small part of the earth's surface, and their locations are unrelated to climate. Only about 1% of the earth's surface is covered with freshwater, whereas 41% of all known fish species live in this water. Fresh water zones are usually closely connected to land; therefore they are often threatened by a constant input of organic matter, inorganic nutrients and pollutants.

A More Scientific Difference:

Salts (both ordinary table salt and other salts) are chemicals that fall apart into electrically charged particles (called ions) in water. One big difference between salt water and plain water is that these ions make the saltwater conduct electricity much better than pure water.

In addition to water (made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms - H2O), seawater in the ocean has more than 70 elements dissolved in it but only six make up more than 99% of all the dissolved salts and all occur as ions - that is, electrically charged atoms or groups of atoms: Sodium (Na+), Chloride (Cl−), Magnesium (Mg 2+), Potassium (K+), Sulphate (SO4 2−) and Calcium (Ca 2+).

One of the really neat things about saltwater is that things float in it more easily than in regular water. For example, there's an especially high concentration of salt in the Dead Sea, so it's very easy to float there.

Sources: http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-wat06.htm

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/Section/What-is-the-chemical-composition-of-saltwater-.id-305406,articleId-8202.html

if you were smart enough you should know saltwater has salt and freshwater doesnt

Answer 2

Saltwater Fish live in the oceans and there is salt in the water. Freshwater Fish live in lakes streams rivers etc. and have no salt in the water.

Most fish dwell in either salt water or fresh water; both environments pose special problems for the fish. In fresh water, the concentration of salt in the water is much lower than that of the fish's body fluids. By osmosis, water enters the fish while salt escapes from it. Ocean water has a salt concentration higher than the body fluid of the fish.

Answer 3

If you drink too much salt water it can kill you. You should'nt even drink it. Salt water is saline water and it is not safe to drink. Water on the other hand is needed for you to survive. Salt water is contaminated.

Answer 4

Hmmmmm well i think that saltwater fish live in saltwater and freshwater fish llive in freshwater!