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What Makes You Float in the Dead Sea?

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From Quick Guide: All About Israel

Summary: People float in the Dead Sea because the water is much more dense and heavy than regular water, and this is a result of all of the salt that has dissolved in the Dead Sea. Discover how density in water pushes an object up to keep it afloat with help from a science teacher and field biologist in this free video on science questions.

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By Brian Erickson
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Brian Erickson has a bachelor's degree in biology from Lewis & Clark College, and graduated with honors. During his college career, Erickson earned several awards and scholarships,...read more

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Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Brian with Ericksontutoring.blogspot.com. Today we're going to discuss what causes you to float in the Dead Sea. So the Dead Sea is a body of water that's found between Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan, so it's kind of right there in the middle of the Middle East. It's an extremely salty body of water, and it's actually one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world. It has approximately 31.5% salinity, or saltiness. This is extremely high, and it has some pretty major repercussions for the density of the water. So, the density of the Dead Sea is 1.24. So what this is means is that the water in the Dead Sea is actually much more dense, or heavier, than regular water, or even ocean water. This is just because there's so much salt dissolved in the Dead Sea water. In comparison, the density of oceanic water is 1.025, or approximately 1.03, and that of regular water is 1.00. So as you saw, the density between the ocean water and regular water isn't very different. It's about 0.03 difference in terms of density. Considering that the Dead Sea is roughly 0.25 different, that's a whole lot more density, and that extra density in the water pushes you up and keeps you afloat. So, the amount of salt in the Dead Sea and subsequent density of the water are the reasons why people float so incredibly easily in the Dead Sea."

eHow Article: What Makes You Float in the Dead Sea?

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