Quote:
Originally Posted by Haak
I'll be honest with everyone here in that i never really paid much attention in geography so let me just ask this one dumb question: In terms of making it drinkable, what's the difference between rain water and ocean water?(Based on Amy saying rain water was a valuable commodity).
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Basically: salt.
Ocean water is salt water, that means the concentration of salt (to be more precise Na+ and Cl- ions) is too high.
You probably know already that eating salty stuff makes you thirsty. That's because our body needs a precise ratio of salt/water to function correctly, so when you ingest too much salt, it wants you to drink water to compensate.
Sea water has so much salt that it offsets the water it provides, it would be pointless and even unhealthy to drink it.
Rain water on the other side has no salt whatsoever, since rain is basically condensed water that has firstly evaporated. Salt doesn't evaporate.