When seawater evaporates, the concentration of salts increases until what happens?

Question

Mateo Aguilar · Accepted Answer

Until #"precipitation"# or #"crystallization"# of salts occur.........

You can perform this experiment at home. Gather some cooking salt and clean jars. In a different beaker, make a saturated solution of sodium chloride. A saturated solution is one in which the following equilibrium takes place: #NaCl(s) rightleftharpoons NaCl(aq)# After a significant amount of salt has dissolved, pour the saturated solution into a (very) clean jar and cover it loosely. Over the course of a few weeks, as the solution gradually evaporates, you should obtain very large macroscopic crystals of sodium chloride; I've been able to grow nuggets the size of my thumbnail. Why should you do this? Well, (i) for fun, and (ii) it gives you an appreciation of what the phenomenon of #"saturation"# is: i.e. #"equilibrium between dissolved and undissolved solute"#, and this leads to the definition of #"supersaturation"#, which is equally poorly conceived at A-level, and undergraduate level: #"the solution contains a concentration of solute that is greater"# #"than that which contains undissolved solute."# For more of the same, see here and links: https://tutor.hix.ai

Peyton Adams · Answer

undefined When seawater evaporates, the concentration of salts increases until it reaches a point where the solution becomes saturated, meaning it cannot dissolve any more salt. At this point, the excess salt may start to precipitate out of the solution and form salt crystals.

Cooper Adams · Answer

undefined When seawater evaporates, the concentration of salts increases until it reaches a point where the solution becomes saturated. At this stage, no more salt can dissolve in the water, and any additional salt will remain undissolved as solid particles.