why is the ocean water salty?
826959
The basic answer to that is:\nAs water falls on land and runs into the oceans it picks up minerals.\nWhen it gets to the ocean the minerals get mixed into the ocean water.\nSunlight causes the water to evaporate but leaves the minerals behind.\nThe water then falls on land again repeating the process.\nEventually the salt content in the oceans built up to where it is today. And continues to build up.
976344
The salt gets dissolved in the water.
781539
Salt is widely distributed in nature. It is found in solution in ocean water in concentrations of about 30 g/litre (about 4.08 oz/gal) of water, meaning that salt makes up about 3 per cent of ocean water by weight. The compound is also distributed throughout many rivers and inland lakes and seas, the concentration varying from 0.002 per cent in the Mississippi River to 30 per cent in the Dead Sea. Salt can occur as a surface crust or layer in swamps and dry lake bottoms, especially in extremely arid regions. The mineral halite, more commonly known as rock salt or massive salt, occurs in beds deposited by the dehydration of ancient bodies of salt water. The compound is constantly being formed by the action of rivers and streams on rocks containing chlorides and compounds of sodium. Salt melts at 804° C (1479° F) and begins to vaporize at temperatures just slightly above this; it has a relative density of 2.17.
933439
I dont know, but seeing as no-one else answered, can I have the 10 points please ?\nBut if the question is directed at Earth then the Earth is covered with 70% water and approx 85% of that is salt water!
17806
It should be noted that you are salty. We have a natural salinity that is important to maintaining homeostasis. Any disruption of our salinity can cause serious metabolic and physiologic problems.
191847
The oceans are in relative equilibrium.  They aren't getting saltier.  There are several salt "sinks" which take the accumulated salt and remove it from the ocean.\n\nThe following is an excerpt from this Web reference on the subject:\n\nb. Sinks (removal processes) of ocean salinity include salt spray which is blown over land; at oceanic ridges magnesium and sulfate ions are incorporated into mineral deposits; calcium, sulfate, and sodium are deposited as biogenous sediments in animal shells and fecal pellets; most importantly, almost all ions can be absorbed to the surface of sinking clay and biological particles.\nhttp://www-ocean.tamu.edu/~duce/chapter07.html\n\nDoing a Yahoo Search for:\nocean salinity salt removal\nhttp://search.yahoo.com/search?p=ocean+salinity+salt+removal&ei=UTF-8&fr=slv1-&x=wrt\n\nyou can find a number of related articles that talk about what happens to the salt.\nhttp://www.palomar.edu/oceanography/salty_ocean.htm\nhttp://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo2xx/geo212_2/Lectures/OC05.SaltGas.pdf#search='ocean%20salinity%20salt%20removal'\nhttp://www.oceansonline.com/salts.htm
1117915
because the salt u use in the kitchen does not contain all the particals in the sea water like sodium sulphate magnesium sulphate etc because they are removed in the process  of making the salt and some times the salt it cut down from deep earth and they are also cleaned by removing the toxic particles and iodised which may alter the sea water salt from earth solt altho the main component of salt is Na Cl it has other particals such as iodine and k+ irons Fe ect...
44697
rivers flow across various terrains hence eroding rocks and carrying sediments(salts)they meet sea and ocean they deposit the salt content which keeps concentarting as water evaporates but salt does not .
467205
most people believe the seas are as much as 500 million years old because animals that lived then occur as fossils in rocks which once were under ancient seas. There are several theories about the origin of the seas, but no single theory explains all aspects of this puzzle. Many earth scientists agree with the hypothesis that both the atmosphere and the oceans have accumulated gradually through geologic time from some process of "degassing" of the Earth's interior. According to this theory, the ocean had its origin from the prolonged escape of water vapor and other gases from the molten igneous rocks of the Earth to the clouds surrounding the cooling Earth. After the Earth's surface had cooled to a temperature below the boiling point of water, rain began to fall and continued to fall for centuries. As the water drained into the great hollows in the Earth's surface, the primeval ocean came into existence. The forces of gravity prevented the water from leaving the planet.\n       All water, even rain water, contains dissolved chemicals which scientists call "salts." But not all water tastes salty. Water is fresh or salty according to individual judgment, and in making this decision man is more convinced by his sense of taste than by a laboratory test. It is one's taste buds that accept one water and reject another.\nOcean water is indeed a complex solution of mineral salts and of decayed biologic matter that results from the teeming life in the seas. Most of the ocean's salts were derived from gradual processes such the breaking up of the cooled igneous rocks of the Earth's crust by weathering and erosion, the wearing down of mountains, and the dissolving action of rains and streams which transported their mineral washings to the sea. Some of the ocean's salts have been dissolved from rocks and sediments below its floor. Other sources of salts include the solid and gaseous materials that escaped from the Earth's crust through volcanic vents or that originated in the atmosphere.
539352
Salinity and the latitude is related because of the thermohaline circulation of the ocean waters. This means that the waters circulated around ocean and are driven by density (not temperature). The thermohaline circulation means that the are denser waters at high latitude due to high evaporation rates found in the tropics. Hope that helps
372283
Salinity should be higher at the Poles than other places (this is what makes the thermohaline conveyor belt work).  Places of low salinity (at least on the surface) would include the Indian Ocean (where there is a lot of runoff from the Himalayas), the Northern part of Africa (near the mouth of the Amazon River), and the Western part of the Pacific Ocean (where it is always raining).
298760
Because the salt content will dehydrate you. And severe dehydration could kill you especially if you are out at sea and medical treatment is not nearby.
557119
Sand in the ocean deals with water. Sand in the desert would be dealing with wind and heat. Ocean water also contains minerals/salts which may be adhering or tearing away at the sand. The only water desert sand may ever encounter is more than likely the rare rainfall- freshwater, which if anything would help "wash" away any minerals bonding to it. Wet vs. Dry- either way sand gets in places you don't want it... So just keep away from it unless you're gonna superheat the stuff and make glass.. heheh.
809558
Your cells are always in an isotonic solution which means the solute level (salt and other material) and the water level is about the same. Salt water is a hypertonic solution because the levels of solute outnumber the water. When you drink salt water it causes the water in your cells to leave the try to reach equilibrium. This causes them to shrink and ultimatily make the organism die.
11387
Basically because of a phenomenon called Osmosis, which is the exchange of water or other liquids through a membrane in order to get an equilibrium between dissolved substances and the pressure on the membrane.\n\nThe liquids in the human body have a salt content of roughly 0.9% (aka isotonic solution). Sea water has salt contents up to 3.5% (disregarding the Dead Sea and similar evaporation basins).\n\nLow salt content water (from the body cells) will go through the membranes into the salt water. Effectively, the body dries up even though a person has drunk salt water.\n\nNote, however, that salt water near isotonic values can be drunk in case of emergencies. E.g. before river mouths or in inland seas or bays, freshwater addition can dilute sea water to survivable salt contents.
818829
Scientific theories behind the origins of sea salt started with Sir Edmond Halley in 1715, who proposed that salt and other minerals were carried into the sea by rivers, having been leached out of the ground by rainfall runoff. Upon reaching the ocean, these salts would be retained and concentrated as the process of evaporation (see Hydrologic cycle) removed the water. Halley noted that of the small number of lakes in the world without ocean outlets (such as the Dead Sea and the Caspian Sea, see endorheic basin), most have high salt content. Halley termed this process "continental weathering".
1061323
I'm surely not an expert in this, but I'll tell you what I know.\nThe salinity of ocean water varies from place to place. The oceans that surround the polar regions are less salty than the Persian Gulf areas. Also where rivers and streams empty into the ocean, that area tends to be less salty than the open ocean.\nSalinity is reported in terms of parts per thousand ( 0/00 ).\nSalt content in ocean water ranges from .5 0/00 to 40 0/00.\nThe average ocean salinity is 35 0/00. \nI had an ocean map which showed salt content of the world oceans, but cannot find it. I know this would have been a great help answering your question.  What I do remember of it is, that most major oceans had a salt content that ranged between 32 0/00 and 35 0/00.\n32 0/00 being close to islands and continents and 35 0/00 was recorded surrounding the center of the major oceans.\nI'm sure I did not answer your question completely, but I hope I helped?