Salted Waters

Lesson objectives

To acknowledge that our country is

geographically,
historically
and
economically linked to the sea;
To understand the economical
importance of sea water for the
country;

To understand water sea

proprieties
and
chemical
composition;
To motivate the students to
experimental sciences;

Portuguese coast has 943 km in the

mainland, 667 km in Azores archipelago
and, 250 km in Madeira archipelago.

Coast is formed by beautiful beaches and

our country owns one of the largest
exclusive economical area of European
countries
(ZEE),
covering
about
1683000 km.

By the sea coast we have some places that produce

salt, like Rio Maior, Alcochete, Figueira da Foz, Tejo,
Aveiro,
Sado
and
a
lot
more.
The first salt production place dates from 959 A.C., in
Aveiro region and it still produces salt nowadays.

Activity
In this activity we will observe the
evaporation
of
sea
water
samples, until it dries.
We will also calculate sea water
density and salinity.

Material needed
Petri box;
Sea water;
Beaker;
Analytical weighing-machine;

Description
Measure a certain water volume
with a beaker;
Weight petri box;
Weight preti box with sea water
inside;

Wait until sea water dries;

Weight petri box with

solid
deposit after the evaporation of
sea water;
Take note of the results;

The density and sample salinity

Initial water mass;
Solid deposit mass;
Density;
Sea water composition
Salinity;

Interdisciplinarity
Biology water analysis and
identification oh its components.
History To know importance of
sea resources in the past.
Geography Use and influence
of natural resources for the
development
of
Portuguese
economy.