Estuary Salinity Lab
Place a few drops of red food coloring to a clear glass that contains cold water from your refrigerator (less than half full).
In a separate glass of the same type, make a saltwater solution using the same amount of water as you did in step 1. Heat that water in the microwave for1 1/2 minutes or until warm. Be careful not to burn yourself. Dissolve table salt into that warm water (mix a little at a time until it does not dissolve any further.) Then place a few drops of yellow food coloring to that solution. Mix well.
Now, slowly pour the red water solution (freshwater) into the saltwater solution (yellow solution). The slower you pour the red into the yellow the better your results will be. Hint: If you pour it so that the red solution moves down the side of the yellow container, slowly, you will recieve nice reults.
Do not stir or mix this combined solution. You should see a separation of the two solutions, even though they are in the same container.
In a word or google document, describe what you observed as you mixed these solutions and then continue to monitor the solution recording what you see happening each minute for 10 minutes. Make a data table of these observations.
Take pictures of the mixture immediately after mixing and then after 10 minutes. Place a copy of these pictures in your lab writeup and label the pictures.
Answer the following analysis questions.
Which solution was above the other?
Why did the solutions separate and not mix?
How does this lab help to represent what happens in estuaries?
How does this type of environment impact the organisms that live there (esturaries)?
What types of stress does this place on the organisms?
