I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Organs Zone. It has scientists studying health and disease in various parts of our bodies. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
If the distiller water was on the table, it would fill with oxygen just by diffusion! Distiller water can definitely have as much oxygen as seawater.
I think that the problem is that distiller water has no salt, and that all sea creatures can only live in salt water! Distilling removes all the impurities by filtering it, and it would take out all the salt.
One of the others might have a better answer, but Im pretty sure this is the answer!
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Hannah that’s a great explanation!
Distilled water doesn’t contain the minerals and salts that fish need to survive. Even freshwater fish which don’t need salty seawater, have to have really small amounts of minerals in parts per million (ppm) that will help them stay alive by keeping the right balance inside/outside their body.
As for the dolphin/whale surviving in distilled water- that’s an intriguing question but I don’t know. While dolphins and whales are mammals and breathe from air- they still need to have the right balance of minerals inside their body and outside in the water. Think of what it’s like if you stay in the pool or bath for too long. Your fingers become all wrinkly. The water in the pool or bath pulls salts out of your body through an action called osmosis, but when you get out, you restore the balance by drinking water and excreting more salt as urine. So maybe dolphins can survive but you would need to talk to a dolphin expert to be sure!!
🙂
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Hannah and Melina got it in one.
Well put ladies 😀
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Great answers Hannah and Mel.
I’m not a dolphin expert but apparently, there are a number of dolphin species that live in fresh water. They all belong to the river dolphin families. In general, salt water species don’t do well in fresh water. The salt water and river dolphins must have a different body make up. Salt water dolphins can survive for some time, but they will be come exhausted (since they have less buoyancy in fresh water) and after a while their skin will start to wrinkle (like our own skin after spending a long time in the bath).
Fresh water doesn’t = distilled water. I don’t think anyone has ever reported what happens to a dolphin in distilled water.
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Sigh…I just wasn’t fast enough. 🙂 Well done, everyone.
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