Why is the Dead Sea so called

Dead Sea - this is the name of the huge lake located between Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. “Neither a bird flies above him, nor a beast runs past, a man who dared to swim on it, perishes, ” they said about him in antiquity.

The lake was called the "sea" because of its large size, because its length is 67 km, and the width in some places reaches 18 km. The epithet "dead" is due to the fact that there really is no life in the lake: no fish, no algae, no arthropods. True, in later times, the microscope made it possible to prove that the lifelessness of the Dead Sea is somewhat exaggerated, there are still bacteria in its water. But in ancient times, nothing was known about bacteria, so the lifelessness of this reservoir seemed absolute.

Water properties

The water of the Dead Sea is destructive for humans, if you drink it. Attempts to cross the Dead Sea ended tragically: the boats capsized, and the daredevils who decided on such a feat did not immediately manage to get to the shore. In some cases, people after that died from poisoning.

Such deadly water of the Dead Sea is due to the high concentration of salt in it, which reaches 300-350 ppm. For comparison: the salinity of the Black Sea is 18 ppm, and in the Red - 41. According to this indicator, only the Baskunchak lake in the Astrakhan region (300 ppm) can be equal to the Dead Sea, and only the small Don Juan lake in Antarctica is ahead of it (402 ppm).

High salt concentration explains not only the toxicity of the Dead Sea water, but also its density. She pushes any object, so it is impossible to swim on the lake, including in a boat.