Science lesson by Norm Kalmanovitch, Calgary Herald
Re: "
Absorbent," Letter, April 30.
Pure water has a pH of 7. Acids have a pH below 7, bases have a pH above 7. Sea water has a typical pH of 8.2, so it is a base, not an acid. Sea water is saturated with the carbonate ion which means that it is saturated in CO2. Soda water is acidic because it is pure water with just CO2 which forms carbonic acid. Soda water at bottled pressure of 2.5 atmospheres, has a pH of 3.7 making it quite acidic, but if left standing in the refrigerator at 2 degrees C at atmospheric pressure, the CO2 will bubble off leaving a saturated solution with a pH of 5.6. If the soda water is left standing at room temperature, more CO2 will bubble off, leaving a saturated solution with a less acidic pH of 5.7. CO2 saturation is dependent on temperature and pressure, and in sea water the amount of CO2 dissolved is a function of depth and temperature.
In all cases, sea water is saturated in CO2, but as sea water is basic, any acidity changes due to CO2 really have no effect because of the overwhelming predominance of dissolved salts that make sea water basic. People are entitled to their opinions, but they are not entitled to misrepresent fact as has continually been done promoting the scientifically baseless human-caused global warming issue.
Norm Kalmanovitch, Calgary
Listed below are a series of letters published in the Calgary Herald that started from the article "CO2 buildup turning ocean water acidic" by Deborah Zaba