Everyone has probably seen at least one film that shows how shipwrecked people suffer on the high seas. And this is not because it is hot and cold, and not because you want to eat. It’s all because of the terrible thirst, because they say that you can’t drink sea water. A logical question arises: "Why?"
Simple explanation
It is possible to explain why sea water cannot be drunk in different ways. The simplest explanation may be that sea water contains a huge amount of salts (about 30 grams per liter), in addition, it differs significantly in physical and chemical composition from fresh water suitable for consumption. The thing is that the amount of salt that is in sea water cannot be processed. Yes, and she does not quench her thirst at all, even at first.
going deep
The fact that you can not drink sea water has already become clear from the simpler explanation above. But how exactly the body reacts to consumption Now that's interesting. After all, it would seem that a liquid is a liquid. But not everything is so simple. Everyone probably knows that every day a person should drink about 3 liters of water for the normal functioning of his body. But water can enter the body not only in its pure form, but also with food. There is bewilderment: after all, salt also enters the body. Yes, it is necessary to maintain the water-salt balance, but it is needed in much smaller quantities than in sea water. So, what happens to the body after consuming sea water? As already mentioned, the amount of salt that is in it, the body simply cannot process normally. The kidneys begin to work actively to remove accumulated salts from the body. And that requires even more water. It turns out a vicious circle. The more sea water a person consumes, the worse, because salts are not excreted, accumulate in the body and begin to destroy it. Therefore, among the tips on how to survive after a shipwreck, you can find those who say that it is better to consume at a minimum, because it can extend life by a maximum of 3-4 days, and harm to the body in case of rescue will be irreversible, and after that you can even stay disabled. That is why sea water cannot be drunk.
What to do?
But a logical question may arise: "But what to do in order to survive if there is simply no other water around?" After all, knowing why sea water cannot be drunk, a person can simply refuse to do so. Here it is necessary to look for other sources of liquid. So, the biggest problem with in the open ocean. But there are also marine inhabitants that can be consumed, and from which you can try to suck out at least some liquid. This is the recommendation given by the French physician A. Bombard, who thus managed to survive in the open ocean without fresh water.
Or maybe you can?
When figuring out whether it is possible to drink sea water, you can also get to people who claim that it is still possible to consume it. And this is true, but there is one nuance: only after its desalination. This can be done by distillation, separation, freezing, electrodialysis, as well as direct and The simplest and most accessible way is evaporation. It can also be used on the high seas by building a watermaker from improvised materials. Knowing why sea water cannot be drunk, it is better to desalinate it at least to a minimum.
If there is no drinking water, is it possible to drink sea water. Will salt water kill? (10+)
The material is an explanation and addition to the article:
Table salt in a healthy diet
The role of salt in a healthy diet. Daily intake. Differences of sea, rock salt. The optimal amount in food and health. Lose weight with a salt-free diet.
Question:
Is it possible to drink salty sea water, for example, in the absence of fresh water
Answer:
According to popular belief, sea water should not be drunk in order to avoid immediate death. There are many examples of how people, finding themselves in a hopeless situation, drank salt water and died.
But what has been said is only half the truth. Quite numerous cases of survival in the open ocean for several months in the absence of drinking water are described. The use of sea water in these cases did not kill the victims. What is the difference between the first group of cases and the second? How to survive a shipwreck in the ocean or sea?
This question intrigued me some time ago. And I decided to explore it. So, as I wrote in the article to which you asked the question, that the maximum conditionally non-toxic salt content can be considered 15 grams per liter of water. Sea and ocean water contains an average of 30 grams per liter. So you can't just drink this water.
But if you plan to live for several months, you will have to eat something. Most likely it will be raw fish. Raw fish is 75% - 80% fresh water. If you eat a kilogram or more of raw fish per day and drink a liter of sea water, you have a good chance of surviving. But proportions matter here. You need to eat more than a kilogram of fish per liter of water you drink.
Sea water is safe from the point of view of intestinal infections, as it has pronounced antibacterial properties.
Salt sea water cannot satisfy thirst. No matter how much you drink it, you will still be thirsty. So, in order to save life, you need to drink a strictly defined amount - 1 liter per day.
And lastly, from such a diet, you are constantly at risk of getting heat stroke. The article says that with such a diet, thermoregulation is disturbed. So you will have to constantly watch to avoid overheating, for example by constantly swimming in the water of the surrounding ocean.
By the way, the brine that some drink contains up to 60 grams per liter. It is safe to drink it if it is not the only source of water for your body.
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Probably all of us, including even small children, are well aware that you can not drink water from the sea: it is not fresh, and therefore unacceptable and not suitable for the human body. However, few people think about why such water is not perceived by our body.
About seventy percent of our entire planet is water. And literally: oceans, seas, lakes and so on. At the same time, only three percent of all water in the world is fresh, that is, suitable for drinking! Moreover, it would seem that there is water both there and there, so why is it possible to drink one (although not recommended), while the other is absolutely impossible? The thing is that sea and fresh water are similar to each other only in appearance.
If we bring samples of liquid from a lake and from the sea or ocean to the laboratory, and then compare them at the level of molecular structure, we will immediately see that their composition is completely different. In addition, we should not forget about the fundamental importance of the absence of salt in fresh water. Sea water, on the other hand, is not only disgusting in taste (everyone who has swum in the sea or ocean at least once knows this), but also extremely dangerous for human life and health.
Some believe that in the most extreme case (for example, a shipwreck or something like that), you can and should quench your thirst with salt water, but this is fundamentally wrong. Such drinking will help only for a while, but then the desire to drink will return with a new, much greater force. This is a road to nowhere, because water with salt is toxic to humans.
The thing is that any liquid is carried through the liver and kidneys. This is a kind of filter in the system of our body. A large amount of salt, which is part of sea water, easily settles in these vital organs, which very quickly leads to their inflammation and disease. The kidneys do not have time to remove salt from the body, it lingers inside, forming stones. The further development of events is already obvious: without medical care, a person is doomed.
Imagine for yourself: in one liter of water from the sea or ocean there is up to forty grams of salt! This is just a crazy amount, given the fact that for normal functioning a person needs to drink at least one and a half to two liters of fluid per day. Remember, for comparison, how much salt do you put in your cooking? One, two, three spoons? Now imagine a good few dozen of these spoons. That's the same thing.
Thus, drinking sea water during a hypothetical shipwreck (we sincerely hope that this never happens to you), you will quench your thirst for only a couple of hours, but later you will want to drink even more, so much so that you have to drink even more salty liquid. The body will begin to work for wear and tear, trying to overcome the oncoming dehydration, because in order to remove all the salt, you need a lot of urine.
As a result, after a few days of such a drinking regime, your kidneys will simply fail, and then problems with the entire gastrointestinal tract will begin. In short, this will only delay the inevitable and make death even more painful (of course, if qualified assistance is not provided in time). In general, there is little pleasant.
Even living on the ocean, people need a source of fresh water. And all because the ocean is salty. In general, fresh water, compared to salt water, is many times less on the globe, and it must be protected. It is worth understanding the question of why you can not drink and why it is dangerous to use it.
Consequences of ingestion of sea water
Sea water does not taste very pleasant, but there are many tasteless and at the same time healthy products in the world, take at least fish oil. Therefore, it cannot be said that sea water is not drunk because of its taste.
Sea water is harmful because it contains a large percentage of dissolved salts (about 3.5% or 35 ppm) and other minerals.
The consequences of drinking only sea water are:
- kidney dysfunction;
- disorder of the digestive system;
- dehydration;
- swelling of the brain.
Of course, from one sip, none of this will happen, unless dryness appears in the mouth. But when a person is in the middle of the sea and he does not have fresh water, then such disorders will occur sooner or later.
Why salt water is bad
When we drink salt water, it begins to be absorbed in the mouth, then in the esophagus. From the small intestine, it enters the bloodstream. The body and blood are also saturated with salts and other dissolved elements. The blood passes through the kidneys, which act as filters. Due to the high concentration of foreign substances, the load on them increases. In addition to the kidneys, the salt solution does not have the best effect on the work of other organs. It corrodes the walls of the stomach, causing pain and vomiting.
Osmosis plays an important role in the absorption of water. From cells in a very saline solution, water diffuses outward. Cells shrivel up, so dehydration occurs. This is a paradoxical phenomenon, since, on the one hand, there is enough water in the body, and on the other, the cells do not have enough of it.
Sea water also contains magnesium sulfate. In small quantities, it acts as a medicinal substance, but when the dose is increased, it begins to act as a laxative and increases diuresis. As a result, the body loses even more water, which accelerates dehydration.
If you use sea water for a long time and in large quantities, then instead of quenching your thirst, you will want to drink even more. Swelling of the legs will come, convulsions will begin, pulmonary edema and loss of consciousness are possible. If timely measures are not taken to restore the water and electrolyte balance, then death may occur.
Is it drinkable
The experience of people who find themselves as a result of a shipwreck on the high seas suggests that sea water is harmful. Imagine a boat with a person drifting in the ocean. There is no fresh water supply on the boat, and the sun bakes inexorably during the day. After a few hours, the person will begin to feel thirsty. How quickly this happens will depend on its physical condition and ambient temperature. But in less than a day, he will inexorably want to drink. I wonder what will happen if you drink sea water instead of fresh water?
Many do not hold back and do just that. Sometimes it saves a life, but in the case of prolonged use it is fatal. Moreover, a person dies not so much due to lack of food, but from dehydration. The body can survive much less without water than without food.
Important! Nevertheless, experience shows that sea water can be drunk in order to survive. To do this, it must be diluted with the juice of caught fish or condensate, which can be collected.
It should be noted that the salinity of sea water is not the same everywhere. In some seas and bays it is lower, in others it is higher. The lowest salinity is in the Baltic and Black Seas, the highest salinity is in the Mediterranean and Red. Near the places where the rivers flow, the salinity will also be reduced, and it is less dangerous to drink sea water there. So, the salinity of the small Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov is low, because the big Don River and other rivers flow into it.
Bombard experiment
French scientist Alain Bombard in the early fifties of the last century developed a plan for survival after a shipwreck. To confirm that this plan was working, he decided to experiment on himself. The bomber set sail alone in a rubber inflatable boat under sail from the Canary Islands to Barbados. As a result, he crossed the ocean, remained alive, but spoiled his health very much.
He sailed for 65 days. At the same time, he ate only plankton and fish that he could catch. He used the fish as a source of fresh water, grinding and squeezing the juice out of it on a press that he had designed in advance. He also consumed a small amount (no more than a liter per day) of water from the Atlantic Ocean, which is very salty.
However, he was unable to avoid dehydration. Due to loss of moisture and reduced nutrient intake, he lost 25 kg, lost his toenails, developed a rash on his skin, had a severe drop in hemoglobin levels, and had severe vision problems.
However, he proved that you can drink sea water in small quantities and thereby save your life if you find yourself in an extreme situation.
Hello to all survivors!
Everyone always and everywhere says: don’t drink sea water, you can’t drink sea water, etc…
And many did not even think about why it is still impossible to drink it?
In the light of impending events and various predictions about floods and widespread floods, I would like to touch on this topic, since there will be a lot of sea water and the temptation to drink it will be very great. I ask you not to throw too many slippers for the article below, I won’t indicate the source, because a long time ago it was gathering dust on my computer. I hope that someone will find useful information in it.
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The sea gently splashes at the feet of graceful handsome men, but obviously it does not seduce them. And then the moment comes when you want to get drunk, and the deer climb high into the mountains, where they are in search of pits with not fresh muddy water, the remaining springs, dry mountain streams. Not a single handsome horned man can quench his thirst with sea water. And not only him. For many kilometers stretches the coastline of the continents, surrounded by the ocean. Nowhere on Earth will we see animal trails crossing the coastline. The line between fresh and salt water.
Ships are wrecked, people are dying of thirst. Sea water is not suitable for drinking, a lot of salts are dissolved in it - 35 grams per liter, of which 27 grams of table salt.
Why can't you drink sea water?
The required amount of water for an adult is 3 liters per day. This volume includes the water contained in the food. If you drink that volume of sea water, then about 100 grams of salts will come with it. Get all this amount of salts into the blood at once, a catastrophe will happen. The blood removes excess salts as soon as their content exceeds the norm. The main job of cleaning the blood in the human body is performed by the kidneys. During the day, the kidneys of an adult excrete one and a half liters of urine, while being freed from other harmful substances, such as potassium, sodium, calcium, etc. However, the concentration of these substances in sea water significantly exceeds their content in urine. It is in order to free the body from the salt that came with sea water that a much larger amount of fresh water is required.
How do marine life adapt? Where do they manage to find fresh water?
It turns out this is possible. Tissue fluids and blood of marine life do not contain a large amount of salts. It is because of this that all predators from the sea, along with food, receive a sufficient amount of liquid suitable for drinking. This liquid is quite suitable for humans. A doctor from France, A. Bombard, first turned his attention to this fact.
Thousands of shipwrecked people are dying of thirst. The bomber decided to prove that it is possible to survive in such conditions. He conducted a rather bold experiment in order to prove to everyone that there is everything necessary for survival in the ocean, it is only necessary to use the seafood correctly. Why did he personally go across the Atlantic Ocean, and along the way he ate small fish and small invertebrates. He drank water extracted from the bodies of caught fish. Thus, in 65 days he managed to completely cross the ocean from Europe to America. Of course, this experiment significantly undermined his health, but Bombard proved the ability to survive in the ocean.
Based on the above, the question arises: “Where do fish get fresh water in the sea?” The kidneys of marine fish are small and poorly developed, and they do not participate at all in the excretion of salts from the body. But on the other hand, fish have an excellent desalination apparatus, which is in their gills. Special cells take salt from the blood and, together with mucus, release it in a highly concentrated form.
But how do seabirds get fresh water, how do they survive in these conditions. Petrels and albatrosses live far from the coast, they live in the open ocean. They come to land once a year, and then to raise their offspring. However, many birds living in the coastal zone do not drink fresh water, they drink sea water, and many species of marine animals cannot exist without sea water. It has long been noted in zoological gardens that these birds live very poorly in captivity. Zoologists were surprised, paying attention to hummingbirds, parrots and other birds, that they endure captivity well, and gulls die quickly. It has been suggested that this is due to cramped cages, longing for the sea. Everything turned out to be much easier. The birds just didn't have enough salt to survive. When they began to add salt to their food, everything was fine.
In addition to gills, there are other water distillers, for example, in seabirds and reptiles. For them, this is not a kidney, but a nasal or, as it is called, a salt gland in another way. For example, in birds, this gland is located in the upper edge of the orbit, and its excretory duct is located in the nasal cavity. For comparison: the concentration of sodium in the liquid that is secreted by the gland is 5 times the concentration in the blood and 2-3 times the concentration in ocean water. This kind of liquid comes out of the birds' nasal openings and hangs on the beak in the form of transparent drops. It is their birds that shake off from time to time. If you conduct an experiment and feed a sea bird with food containing a large amount of salt, then after 10 minutes you get the impression that it has a severe runny nose.
Take reptiles, for example: snakes, lizards and turtles, in which the excretory duct of the saline gland opens into the corner of the eyes, and the secret flows out. People have long noticed that crocodiles cry with huge tears, this is how salts come out of the body, which came with water and food. By the way, it is from here that the catchphrase "crocodile tears" appeared.
After reading this article, I hope you understand Why can't you drink sea water!
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