The Water on Earth
Most of the water on Earth is found in the ocean—about 97% of it! The rest is in rivers, lakes, glaciers, and even underground. Unlike the fresh water in rivers and lakes, the ocean water has lots of salt in it. But where does all that salt come from?
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The Story of Salt and Rocks
It all starts with rocks! That might sound strange, but rocks hold tiny bits of salt called minerals. When it rains, water from the sky lands on the ground and washes over rocks. This rainwater is a little bit acidic, which helps break down the rocks very slowly. As the rocks wear away, they release minerals into the water. These minerals include sodium and chloride, which are the main ingredients of salt!
The rainwater carries these minerals into streams and rivers, which then flow into the ocean. Even though the rivers bring only a small amount of salt at a time, this has been happening for millions and millions of years! Over time, the salt builds up, making the ocean super salty.
Why Don’t Rivers and Lakes Get Salty?
If rivers carry salt from rocks, why aren’t they salty too? That’s because rivers keep flowing and eventually reach the ocean. As they flow, they carry away the salt before it has time to build up. Lakes can sometimes become salty if they don’t have a way for water to flow out, like the Great Salt Lake in Utah or the Dead Sea in the Middle East. These lakes collect minerals but don’t let water escape, so the salt stays behind and makes them really salty!
The Ocean’s Superpower: Evaporation
The ocean is huge, and the sun plays a big role in making it salty. The sun heats up the ocean water, causing it to evaporate—which means it turns into water vapor and rises into the sky. But guess what? The salt doesn’t evaporate! It stays behind, making the ocean saltier over time.
How Salty Is the Ocean?
If you could take all the salt out of the ocean and spread it over the entire planet, it would create a layer about 500 feet (152 meters) thick! That’s as tall as a 40-story building! That’s a lot of salt!
Scientists measure how salty the ocean is by looking at something called salinity. The average ocean salinity is about 35 parts per thousand, which means if you took a thousand cups of ocean water, 35 of those cups would be pure salt!
Does All Ocean Water Have the Same Amount of Salt?
Nope! Some parts of the ocean are saltier than others. Warm, sunny places like the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf have very salty water because a lot of water evaporates, leaving salt behind. In places where it rains a lot or where rivers add fresh water, the ocean is less salty. The Baltic Sea in northern Europe is one of the least salty parts of the ocean.
Do Animals and Plants Like Salty Water?
Many ocean animals and plants have adapted to living in salty water. Fish, crabs, sea turtles, and even whales have special ways to deal with salt. Some fish, like salmon, can live in both fresh and salty water because their bodies can adjust! But if you put a freshwater fish in salty ocean water, it would get sick because it’s not used to all that salt.
Can We Drink Ocean Water?
Nope! If you drink ocean water, it actually makes you thirstier because your body needs even more water to get rid of all the salt. That’s why we drink fresh water from lakes, rivers, and underground sources instead.
Why Doesn’t the Ocean Get Too Salty?
Since rivers keep adding salt, you might wonder why the ocean doesn’t just keep getting saltier and saltier forever! That’s because salt also leaves the ocean. Some of it sinks to the bottom, gets trapped in ocean mud, or is used by sea creatures to build shells and coral reefs. Over millions of years, the ocean has found a balance!
Fun Saltwater Experiment!
Want to see how salt changes water? Try this fun experiment at home!
What You Need:
Two clear glasses
Water
Salt
An egg
Steps:
Fill both glasses with the same amount of water.
Add lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons) to one glass and stir until it dissolves.
Carefully place an egg in each glass.
Watch what happens!
In the fresh water, the egg sinks. In the salty water, the egg floats! That’s because salt makes water denser, helping objects float better—just like people can float more easily in the salty Dead Sea than in a regular swimming pool!
The Ocean’s Amazing Secret
The ocean is salty because of tiny bits of minerals from rocks and rivers that have built up over millions of years. The sun, rain, and even animals play a role in keeping the ocean’s saltiness just right. So, next time you visit the beach, take a deep breath, enjoy the waves, and remember—you’re splashing in the salty story of Earth’s history!
And maybe, just maybe, try not to drink the water!
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