Why is there salt in the sea

Everybody knows that the sea water is saltyWe have all gone through that horrible sensation of swallowing salt water from the sea and we have wondered why the sea water has so much salt. We are surprised that the water of the seas is salty, because it receives the water from the rivers and the water from these is sweet, but what we do not know is that the water of rivers, lakes and rain contains minimal records of you go out. Due to the curiosity that this gives us, today in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to discover you why is there salt in the sea.

To understand the composition of the sea, the first thing we must know is what sea water is. The seas and oceans They are one of the most interesting elements of our planet since they come to occupy a large part of the earth's surface.

Seawater is the ingredient that makes up the Earth's seas and oceans. It is made up of a large number of components, for example materials that have dissolved from the earth's crust or released fluids

by the organisms that have inhabited these waters for centuries. All these elements are very important, since without them the creatures that inhabit the seas could not live.

The components of sea water can vary depending on the area, conditioning the way in which the different species live in one place or another. Some of these components are the pH, nutrients or gases.

To continue with this lesson on why there is salt in the sea, we must talk about the salinization process, that is, the saline content found in seawater and the importance of this.

The first studies on salinization were carried out during the 18th century and it was the scientist Edmund halley who started them. Halley realized that the salts reached the seas through the rivers, due to the washing of the continents because of the rain. Halley's theory was not entirely correct, but his studies served as the basis for our current understanding of salinization.

The salinization of the water is due to different minerals that make up the sea water. Carbonic acid, an element that appears in the rain, causes the rocks of the sea to erode, causing sediments, which when accumulated cause the seas and oceans to receive a large amount of concentration of salt.

Both main elements of sea water are chlorine and sodium, which when combined give rise to common salt, which is one of the reasons for the salinization of water. But there are other factors that make sea water salty, such as the following:

• The thaws
• Water evaporation
• Volcanic eruptions
• Hydrothermal vents

One thing to keep in mind when talking about salinization is that it is not the same in all latitudes of our planet. In tropical areas, where the heat is greater, there is greater evaporation, which causes an increase in the concentration of salt that can be found in the sea. On the other hand, in arctic areas, where the cold is greater, much less salinization is generated.

Salinization can also vary when there is an area that receives a lot of rainfall, or that crosses several river basins, being areas with very little salinization. Among the most salty seas, we can highlight the Dead Sea, due to its great evaporation, its high temperatures and to receive very little fluvial contribution.

Finally, we must talk about the different elements that make up seawater, the percentages of each one being really important. The elements that allow seawater to be salty are:

• Chlorine: 19 grams / liter
• Sodium: 10.5 grams / liter
• Magnesium: 1.35 grams / liter
• Sulfur: 0.885 grams / liter
• Calcium: 0.400 grams / liter
• Potassium: 0.380 grams / liter
• Bromine: 0.065 grams / liter

All these elements are the consequence of the salinization process that we have explained above. They are the cause of the sea having that high amount of salt, that is, they are what make sea water so interesting.