Question

What is salinity?
A. Concentration of dissolved salt in water
B. Temperature of water
C. Concentration of minerals in water
D. All of these

Answer 1

Hint: Salinity is an important determining factor in many aspects of chemistry of natural water and in chemical and biological processes within them. The amount of salinity differs in each form of water.

Complete answer: Salinity is the amount of salt dissolved on any kind or form of water. The salinity of water depends largely upon the temperature, pressure of the water and it governs physical characteristics like the density and heat capacity of the water. Compounds of salts like sodium chlorine, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate and sodium bicarbonate tend to dissolve in water. Seawater typically has a salinity of about 35g/kg, although the amount of proportion of salinity decreases near the coasts where rivers meet the ocean bodies. The proportion of salinity in lakes and rivers vary widely from 0.01g/kg to a few g/kg, there are places in the river where salinity tends to be higher than its surrounding area.

Hence, from the above analysis it can be pointed out that the correct answer is option A, concentration of dissolved salt in water.

Note: On the basis of salinity water can be classified into, hyperhaline, metahaline, euhaline, polyhaline, mesohaline, oligohaline. This classification, obviously, depends upon the amount of salt present in the water.