Preview

Road Salt Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1089 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Road Salt Essay
Road salt, also called rock salt, is sodium chloride, chemically combined with NaCl. Na is the chemical abbreviation for sodium and Cl is the abbreviation for chloride. Table salt that we use is exactly the same chemical. The US Environmental Protection Agency has set limits on allowable levels of chloride in water but not sodium. In high concentrations both sodium and chloride can be harmful to aquatic organisms. Sodium is the primary concern for humans, as it can be harmful to people with high blood pressure. the biggest concern with road salt is how it affects our water quality. The chemical doesn't disappear when the snow and ice melts. The chemical washes away into lakes and streams or seeps into groundwater supplies. Researchers …show more content…
it might damage the way our crops and planets over the winter making us not have had enough of healthy, clean foods, vegetable and etc in the spring and summer. Salt can lead to plant death and can also cause a colonization of salt tolerant species, such as cattails, thereby reducing species diversity. Vegetation along roadways is a natural buffer area between pollutants and the waters. With salt damage and vegetation degradation it compromises the retention and processing of pollutants in stormwater. The other outcome is that it might affect out our wildlife . very small amounts of salt can result in toxicosis and death within the bird population. Wildlife such as deer and moose are also attracted to the roadway to ingest salt crystals, which leads to higher incidents of vehicular accidents and wildlife kills. Road salt can cause a decline among populations of salt sensitive species reducing natural diversity. Damage to vegetation can have significant impact on wildlife habitat by destroying food resources, shelter and breeding and nesting sites, and by creating a favorable environment for non-native invasive species. Because of road salt it is damaging lots of things wildlife,vegetation etc. We need to change our ways before it becomes into a huge problem that can't be flexible

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Secondly, not only does the salt that cities use pose a threat to our aquatic ecosystems, it also poses a huge threat to our vegetation as well. When salt dissolves in water, it replaces important nutrients that all plants need to survive. The sodium ions separate from the chloride ions and the nutrients such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium, nutrients that the plants need to survive, are replaced by the salt ions. When this happens, it can disturb the photosynthesis of the plant, or cause the plants to become stressed out. If plants continue to not receive nutrients, and continue to be stressed out, it typically leads to the death of that plant.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lifesaver Lab

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The salt is a compound consisting of various minerals, and is one of the most abundant elements on earth. It is formed out of sodium and chlorine. These minerals are considered electrolytes due to it electric possess.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article Robin Doak discusses the history of salt.First Doak illustrates salt has been important to people since early times.Robin Doak tells us about how it is used to melt ice on slippery roads.He points out that salt is everywhere.Robin Doak emphasizes that Salt was important in United States history,too.Finally Robin Doak concludes that other chemicals are produced from salt,such as chlorine and sodium.…

    • 71 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sodium Chloride (Salt) is a crystalline compound that is a mineral that is component of seawater. Salt is used in many different ways but it is mainly used for cooking. Salt in the soil with plants will cause the plants to decrease in growth. This is because…

    • 2032 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, there are three main Abiotic factors, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and suspended solids. Dissolved oxygen is a very important factor in the survival of organisms in the river. Studies show that “Both producers and consumers (like zebra mussels) take up oxygen during respiration causing oxygen levels to drop. Zebra mussels also reduce oxygen levels by eating producers (like phytoplankton) that release O2 during photosynthesis” (river ecology pg.5). This effect that the zebra mussels have is a very negative effect. The reduced oxygen levels will make it so animals can no longer live in the river. This causes the area to lose a major food supply to the larger animals surrounding it. This will have a huge impact on the environment and the food…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alberto Urrea is suggesting that neither of the governments are putting enough effort to change border policy, American more so than Mexican. Also, he is trying to explain how status quo might be viewed as beneficial for both sides to some extend. However, by changing the border policy, Urrea thinks that it would solve more than just border issues. It would improve economy of both countries, American in specific.…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    SALT questions

    • 2774 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Chloride is essential for digestion and respiration. Salt also allows the body to transport nutrients and oxygen, transmit nerve impulses, move muscles, and manufacture tissues and material. The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine, a Chinese book from the first or second century A.D., states that too much salt causes high blood pressure, which leads to strokes. (However, there are some studies that refute this, though it has been seen that those who consume more salt are not as healthy as those who do not.)…

    • 2774 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overall, I feel that Salt is a very informative book with plenty of information that can be applied from science, to history, and to politics. The knowledge and detail from this book could inspire the reader to want to learn about the history of other places and people, even if they don’t find salt particularly interesting. The message of the book cannot be summed up any better than the closing statement, “Fixing the true value of salt, one of earth’s most accessible commodities, has never been easy (Kurlansky…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rock salt or table salt will melt ice creating a combination of water and or saltwater. I would use water to help out flowers, grass and other plants grow. In the winter, farmers come through to clear the snow and put a salt chemical mix on the streets which secretes and either falls into drainage ditches or becomes absorbed by our soil. Through the process the osmosis the saltwater mix is moved through permeable membranes of the soil. The saltwater mix is absorbed by the roots of our grass and plants. Certain plants will benefit some growth with low salt concentration. However, with grass and other non-tolerant plants the salt concentration deprives the moisture and water from the roots. Through the roots and the cells of the grass and the plants being robbed of the water, the results are irreversible death of the area of the grass and plants.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salt and Grass Growth

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the winter, salt is spread daily on the driveway in order to melt snow and ice. In the spring, when the grass begins to grow, it is noticed that there is not any grass growing about 3 inches from the driveway. In addition, the grass appears to be growing slower about 1 foot from the driveway. Prior to an experiment being conducted, it must be determined what the salt compound being applied to the driveway is made up of in order to get a clear picture of how it may be affecting the grass growth. Salt is sodium chloride that occurs naturally on earth as mineral halite. When mineral halite evaporates, it turns into salt lakes. The chemical compound is NaCl with 60.663% elemental chlorine (Cl) and 39.337% sodium (Na). Salt crystals are cubic in form and can be modified by temperature. Salt that is commonly used for deicing is rock salt also known as halite. Rock salt’s crystals are much larger than the common table salt’s crystals ("What is salt?," 2013).…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For my conclusion I will write about the differences between people drowning in freshwater compared to people drowning in saltwater. When someone drowns it means that their lungs (respiratory system) has been blocked from receiving oxygen by a liquid. Majority of the time it is water that people drown in. “Drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death worldwide, accounting for 7% of all injury related deaths” (MedicineNet). Water is the most common way that people drown, but the two types of water that is common to Earth in masses are freshwater and saltwater. Both can drown you but in completely difference ways.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Salt Water

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages

    People have been using salt since 6050 bc.We have used it for seasoning, preservation, and in the last century for lowering the freezing point of water(History of Salt). In pure water 0 degrees celsius is the normal freezing point of water. Ice will melt just as fast the water will freeze. You won't see the melting and freezing processes as long as they are balanced and equal. Adding salt or any foreign substance to the water upsets the fragile equality between freezing and melting. Less of the water molecules reach the surface of the ice in an amount of given time. The melting rate isn't changed by the salt, so melting is going to happen faster than the freezing. This makes the ice melt(Frederick A. Senese, Why can adding salt to ice water make the ice melt slower?).…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salt absorbs the water from the grass and ends up killing the grass in the area the salt was place to melt the snow in the winter time. I will be measuring the grass growth each day, with the highest concentration of salt to see if it will harm the grass.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fresh water always freezes at 0℃, but that is not always so for water with salt inside. The higher amount of salt there is in the water, the more the freezing point decreases. So, salt water freezes later than freshwater. The exact measurement of how they impact each other is this: every 5 psu increase, the freezing point decreases by 28%.. In an ocean, there is frazil and brine. Frazil are ice crystals suspended in water, and they are made of nearly pure freshwater. Frazil is the first stages of the growth of sea ice. Brine are salt droplets. Sometime brine can get trapped in frazil. Since all salt pools together for brine and all freshwater accumulates for frazil, frazil freezes while brine doesn't (the level of freezing is much higher for brine as it has a very high level of salinity.) Sometimes, Salinity can be…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salt can be bad. But it sure tastes good. Ask the millions of Americans who consume large amounts of salt in their diet, much of it from processed foods.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays