Test for salt water

[lukey121]

Does anyone know of anyway I can test to see if water has salt in it?

[Space]

have a sip

(sorry)

[jake-the-peg]

What do you know about salt water compared to fresh in terms of things like it's density? it's conductivity of electricity etc?

Ringing any bells yet?

[lukey121]

Space: very funny!!! 

Jake-the-peg: No bells are ringing. 

 Is there not some test kit that I can buy somehwere?

[OBonio]

See if it freezes at 0 degrees.

[kaktus]

LOL space, when I saw this question my first thought was: Taste it :0D

[newtron]

Disolved salts will affect the boiling point as well as the freezing point as suggested by OBonio.  Is this a homework problem?

[jake-the-peg]

Pure water has a density of 1g per cc the more salt (and other impurities) the higher the density

It will also have a greater electrical conductivity, a lower freezing point etc.

However this also goes for a lot of substances - if this is a homework question the answer is rather dependant on what level you're at a pre-GCSE answer to this question is somewhat different to an A-level chemistry one

[lukey121]

Oh my gosh these answers have gone rather technical. No this is not a homework question, I want to see if my water softener is working and am wondering is there is salt in my water that�s all.

[simsfreq]

Take a small sample and put it in an eggcup over a candle, see if it leaves salt when all the water has evaporated

[Clanad]

lukey, you may be under the mistaken impression that, because you add salt to the the softener tank, that the water may have salt, i.e. sodium chloride in it.  However, the part of the tank through which incoming water passes (the small tank at the side containing small resin beads) exchanges its calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions, thereby eliminating the "hardness" of the water. As you probably know, the tank regenerates itself every so often to replace the accumulated calcium and magnesium ions for new sodium ions... for this, it does use the salt you've placed in the tank, but only for the ion exchange purposes...

[jake-the-peg]

Whoops sorry we get a lot of homework questions like this and try to help rather than just blurt out the answer.

Mind you if we see it being asked a lot in aa few moths time we'll know where the exam boards are drawing their inspiration from! :c)

[Cuddlysac]

A simple test - not as simple as Space's suggestion! - is to put an egg in it.

A fresh, raw egg will sink in fresh water, and will float in salty water.  Something to do with density as jake-the-peg said.

Here's a nice trick - half-fill a clear jug with warm salty water (warm to help the salt dissolve) and slowly add cold fresh water down the side of the jug (or off the back of a spoon?).

Now put an egg in there - it will sink to halfway down, then stop as it floats on the salty water.