Going to the beach and bathing in the sea is one of the best things about life, isn't it? So it is. The bad thing is when, unintentionally, we end up tasting the water, which is very bad and has a strong salty taste!
ButWhy is sea water salty? And where does sea salt come from?
Contrary to what many people think, salt does not “appear” in the sea, it is present in rocks. Therefore, when the water from the sea itself wears down the coastal rocks, they will fragment and divide into small particles, including the mineral salts that are found in them. Have you ever heard of the expression “soft water, hard stone, it beats until it breaks”?
But the most responsible for the salinity of sea water are the rivers. Although their water is not salty, they are the ones that wear the rocks the most and extract their mineral salts from them, depositing everything in the oceans. After all, the vast majority of rivers on the planet flow into some sea. With heat, the water in the oceans slowly evaporates, while the salt doesn't evaporate and stays there.
When rivers flow into the sea, they deposit rock particles and many salts
Some scientific studies estimate that, each year, more than two million tons of salt of the most diverse types are deposited in the sea by rivers. And table salt, also known as sodium chloride, is what is found in greater quantity, with some other types, such as calcium carbonate and magnesium chloride.
However, having salt in the water is not a privilege of seas and oceans. Lakes can also be salted. In fact, the saltiest water in the world is precisely that of a lake, which, however, is called “sea” or, more precisely, the Dead Sea, which is supplied by the River Jordan.
The Dead Sea is so salty that no living thing can live in it, except for a very specific type of bacteria. In addition, the great presence of salt makes its waters very dense, allowing anyone to float in it with great ease!
The large amount of salt in the Dead Sea allows any body to float on it.
But be careful! Do not try to drink seawater, as it has a large number of other substances that can be harmful to your health in addition to salt. Therefore, if you ingest it, you can have serious problems.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
