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    Asoom's Avatar
    Asoom Posts: 52, Reputation: 1
    Junior Member
     
    #1

    Feb 24, 2009, 07:08 AM
    Colorless liquid is pure water or a salt solution
    Suggest a way to determine whether a colorless liquid is pure water or a salt solution without tasting it
    kp2171's Avatar
    kp2171 Posts: 5,318, Reputation: 1612
    Uber Member
     
    #2

    Feb 24, 2009, 07:25 AM
    One of the oldest ways, and simplest, to get salt out of water (and therefore determine if there is salt present) is just letting the water evaporate. Water placed in shallow basins is exposed to the sun and wind, and as the water evaporates, salt crystals form. If no salt crystals form, then there's no salt present.

    If you want to save your water or speed up the process, you can just use a small sample of the water.

    You can speed this up by heating, such as on a stove. Or you can use a distillation apparatus.

    There's other methods... but this is, again, an ancient way to get salt from water...
    Stratmando's Avatar
    Stratmando Posts: 11,188, Reputation: 508
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    #3

    Feb 24, 2009, 07:28 AM

    One of my favorites:
    Amazing Egg Experiments at Steve Spangler Science
    kp2171's Avatar
    kp2171 Posts: 5,318, Reputation: 1612
    Uber Member
     
    #4

    Feb 24, 2009, 07:30 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by Stratmando View Post
    That's a great way to simply test specific gravity.

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