Why is the Sea Water Salty?

Everybody knows how important the salt is! We can’t think of our food, without having the salt in it! When we talk about salt in our daily life, it is usually the common salt or the table salt. Its chemical name is: Sodium Chloride. We all know that, we get the common salt from the ocean. But, the question is, why is the sea water salty?

1. When it rains on the land, some Carbon  dioxide from the surrounding air gets dissolved in to the rain water. This makes the rain water slightly acidic. In other words, Carbon dioxide and water form Carbonic Acid, which in turn makes the rain water slightly acidic.
2. The rocks get eroded, when the slighltly acidic rain water, flows over the rocks.  Electrically charged atomic particles (or ions) are produced during this breakdown process (or erosion) of rocks. These ions are carried away by the river, to the ocean. Many of these ions are consumed by the organisms in the ocean. Others are left over in the ocean and remain over there for a long time.
3. 90% of these ions contain Sodium and Chloride. Sodium and Chloride are “Salty”.

For millions of years, these ions are carried away by the rivers and stored in to the ocean. Moreover, the salt gets precipitated and stays back, when the sea water evaporates in hot sun. This is why the sea water tastes salty !!