OCEAN’S BLUE TINT
Colour Given by Salts
r r , 'HE main reason why the sea is such a beautifully clear blue on 'bright, sunny (lays is that, it reflects the colour of the sky; on a dull day you find that the blue sea appears largely to have lost its colour, and to have assumed a greyish tinge. tStill, there is always' a certain bluish colour about sea water, and recent investgations have shown why this is so.
.Chemists who have gone into the question (believe that the blue tint is due to the presence of copper salts. Copper is known to exist in sea water, for it is washed out of the land and brought down •to the sea by rivers. The salts which give the sea its blue colour seem to be chiefly compounds of ammonia, in which sea water is very rich, and copper. Ammonia is present owing to the decomposition of the dead bodies of countless millions of sea creatures.
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Bibliographic details
Hawera Star, Volume LI, 20 February 1932, Page 9
Word Count
164OCEAN’S BLUE TINT Hawera Star, Volume LI, 20 February 1932, Page 9
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