CARBON DIOXIDE OF THE OCEAN 597 
In the light of the previous discussion, we see that there 
must be sixteen different salts and eight different ions in the 
solution, under the supposition that the salts with bivalent ions 
dissociate completely into their metal and acid ions, and always 
neglecting the subordinate elements, such as strontium, iodine, 
gold, etc. Since, however, in a solution as strong as the sea 
water, there are two reactions in the dissociation of the salts 
having one bivalent ion, viz.: 
+ ae = 
Na,SO, => (Na) + (Na) + (SO,) 
Na,SO, 2 (Na) + (NaSO,) 
there are also these extra ions, viz., (Na SO,), of the bivalent 
acids and bases. Also instead of simply the salt of the radical 
CO, (normai carbonate) we have both the bicarbonate of the 
acid radical (H CO,) and the acid radical itself. 
From the propositions of the theory of dilute solutions it is 
possible to develop equations whose solutions will give the pro- 
portions of the various undissociated salts and of the free ions, 
but these computations would be of little value because of their 
complexity, and because the ocean water is too strong a solution 
for a numerical application of the equations developed for dilute 
solutions. 
However, assuming that the constant K is of the same order 
of value for all the salts, and that the concentration of the free 
ions may be expressed by the relative number of ions calculated 
under the assumption that the salt is completely dissociated 
(see table p. 596), and neglecting the presence of the bicarbonate 
ion, we see that the relative amount of the undissociated salts 
will be expressed roughly by the products of the concentration 
of their respective radicals, and, therefore (from table p. 597) 1) 
Na Cl, 2) Mg Cl,, 3) Na SO, exist in molecular form in great- 
est quantity, the rest following in about the order: 
