Essay On Drowning In Fresh Water

Drowning, also defined as a respiratory impairment caused by being in or under a liquid, restrains one’s intake of oxygen. The lack of oxygen prevented from being distributed throughout the body causes it to slowly shut down then the victim will eventually go unconscious and sometimes die. Although drowning restricts one’s breathing, drowning in freshwater, and drowning in salt water will react in the body in two completely different ways (Helmenstine, “Drowning in Freshwater). The simple difference whenever it comes to drowning in salt or fresh water is whether the lungs are filled with a hypertonic or hypotonic solution. When drowning in freshwater, the water is considered hypotonic, meaning when water enters the cell, it triggers them to swell and can even cause them to burst ((Helmenstine, “Drowning in Freshwater). The video the class saw in both lab and lecture showed how the cell could not handle the excess water when placed in a hypotonic solution and eventually swelled up exploded. That is what is happening whenever someone drowns in freshwater. The freshwater will first seep into, and fills the victim’s lungs and then enter the bloodstream. As this water enters the
blood stream, it thins and weakens the plasma and electrolytes. This then causes the one’s cells to swell and then burst. As the victims lungs are filled with water, they are not able to take in any oxygen which will lead to unconsciousness, sometimes a heart attack and eventually, death (Zidbits, “Do Salt and Fresh Water”). As stated above, freshwater is considered to be a hypotonic solution whereas salt water is considered to be opposite, a hypertonic solution (Kidzworld, “Drowning: Freshwater vs Saltwater”).
A hypertonic solution, as we learned in lab and lecture, is when the cell has more solute than water. When a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, it causes it to shrink, which was shown again from the video presented in lab and lecture. Therefore, salt water takes blood from the bloodstream into the lungs, filling them until the victim is no longer able to exchange gas and air. Without the exchanging of air, oxygen is no longer able to provide for the bloodstream. Finally, without the exchange of oxygen, the heart will eventually stop working then leading to death (Zidbits, “Do Salt and Fresh
Water”). In one of our labs, we placed potato strips in distilled water and another one in 10% NaCl. The potato placed in distilled water became rigid after sitting in the substance for a while. The reason for that, is because the distilled water is considered to be a hypotonic solution. Therefore, water moved into the potato strip causing it to swell, just as a cell in a hypotonic solution would react. Whenever the potato strip was placed in the 10% NaCl solution, it became bendable. The 10% NaCl solution is considered to be hypertonic; therefore, whenever the potato strip was placed in the 10% NaCl solution, the water moved out of the potato strip which gave it the bendable feeling. When a red blood cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, the water moves out of the cell until it shrivels, thus having the same reaction as the potato strip when placed in the 10% NaCl solution. Drowning in freshwater and salt water both have the same concept of inhibiting one’s intake of oxygen yet react differently within the body. As stated above, freshwater is considered a hypotonic solution whereas salt water is considered a hypertonic solution. The two solutions have different effects on the cells which then makes them different during the process of drowning. Depending on the water that fills our lungs, hypotonic or hypertonic, in other words, fresh or salt water, they both have different reactions to our bodies making the two types of drowning similar yet extremely different (Helmenstine, “Drowning in Freshwater).