To determine how much seawater contains 1 kg of salt, we can use the information that seawater is approximately 35% salt by weight. This means that in every 100 grams of seawater, there are about 35 grams of salt. Let's break this down step by step to find out how much seawater would contain 1 kg (or 1000 grams) of salt.
Calculating the Amount of Seawater
Since we know that 35 grams of salt is found in 100 grams of seawater, we can set up a proportion to find out how much seawater would contain 1000 grams of salt.
Setting Up the Proportion
We can express this relationship mathematically:
- Let x be the amount of seawater needed to contain 1000 grams of salt.
- We know that 35 grams of salt is in 100 grams of seawater.
We can set up the equation as follows:
35 grams of salt / 100 grams of seawater = 1000 grams of salt / x grams of seawater
Cross-Multiplying to Solve for x
Now, we can cross-multiply to solve for x:
35 grams of salt * x grams of seawater = 1000 grams of salt * 100 grams of seawater
This simplifies to:
35x = 100000
Finding x
To find x, we divide both sides of the equation by 35:
x = 100000 / 35
Calculating this gives:
x ≈ 2857.14 grams of seawater
Final Result
Therefore, to obtain 1 kg of salt, you would need approximately 2857.14 grams of seawater. If we convert this to kilograms, it is about 2.86 kg of seawater. This means that if you were to collect about 2.86 kg of seawater, it would contain roughly 1 kg of salt.
Real-World Application
This calculation is not just theoretical; it has practical implications in industries such as desalination, where understanding the salt concentration in seawater is crucial for producing fresh water. It also highlights the salinity of oceans and how it affects marine life and ecosystems.