Whenever we go the seas and oceans and taste the water, it comes out salty in taste. So have you ever thought why sea water is salty? Salt in the ocean comes from rocks on the land. The rain that falls on the land contains some dissolved carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. This causes the rainwater to be slightly acidic due to carbonic acid (which forms from carbon dioxide and water).
Why Sea Water is Salty ?
As rainwater passes through soil and percolates through rocks, it dissolves some of the minerals, a process called weathering. This is the water we drink, and of course, we cannot taste the salt because its concentration is too low. As the rain erodes the rock, acids in the rainwater break down the rock. As the rain erodes the rock, acids in the rainwater break down the rock. This process creates ions or electrically charged atomic particles. These ions are carried away in a runoff to streams and rivers and, ultimately, to the ocean. Many of the dissolved ions are used by organisms in the ocean and are removed from the water. Others are not used up and are left for long periods of time where their concentrations increase over time.
Why Sea Water is Salty: Many of the dissolved ions are used by organisms in the ocean and are removed from the water. Others are not used up and are left for long periods of time where their concentrations increase over time. Two of the most prevalent ions in seawater are chloride and sodium. Together, they make up over 90 percent of all dissolved ions in the ocean. Sodium and Chloride are salty.
The annual addition of dissolved salts by rivers is only a tiny fraction of the total salt in the ocean. This process continues from millions of years to now and now it is big enough concentration of salt in the sea. The dissolved salts carried by all the world’s rivers would equal the salt in the ocean in about 200 to 300 million years.
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