Brine
From Free net encyclopedia
- For the sport manufacturer, see Brine, Inc.
Brine is water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. It is used (now less popular than historically) to preserve vegetables, fish, and meat.
At 60F saturated brine is 26.4% salt by weight (100 degree SAL). At 32F brine can only hold 23.3% salt.
Brine lakes, like the Dead Sea, develop as a result of high evaporation rates in a desert climate and lack of an outlet to the ocean. The salt in these bodies of water comes from either minerals washed out of the surrounding watershed or from a geologically old, previous connection to the ocean. Another example is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
In other locations a body of water abutting the sea may have a salinity between that of sea and fresh water. This is sometimes described as brackish which is between 0.05% and 3% salt content. An example is the Etang de Vaccares and surrounding waters in the Camargue.
Man-made brine ponds, usually located along an ocean shore, are a source of commercial table salt, which is obtained by evaporating and purifying seawater. Commercial table salt is also obtained by way of a salt mine.
A town in England famous for its abundance of saturated brine is Droitwich Spa.
Brine is a common fluid used in the transport of heat from place to place. It is used because the addition of salt to water reduces the freezing temperature of the solution and a relatively great efficiency in the transport can be obtained for the low cost of the material.