Revealed: The ‘salty’ secret of ocean water  

All you know that about 97 per cent of the earth's water is found in the oceans. The remaining three per cent is fresh water found in   glaciers, ice caps, snowy mountain ranges, rivers and lakes. Out of this three per cent only one per cent is available to us for our daily water supply needs. But isn’t the water available in oceans usable? No, because ocean water is salty.  

But where does the salt come from in the oceans? They get the salt from two sources: Runoff from the land and openings in the seafloor.  

Why is the ocean water salty? 
There innumerable folklores and mythological stories about the salty nature of ocean water. But scientifically speaking, there is a very simple reason for this. Salt in the ocean comes from the rocks on land.  

When rain falls on land, it picks up some carbon dioxide from the air. The rainwater combines with the carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid. When this slightly acidic rain falls on rocks, it breaks them down into small mineral particles from the rocks, called ions. These ions get passed on along with the rainwater as it runs into rivers and streams, and the rivers carry them into the ocean. Two of these minerals are chloride and sodium. Together, these ions combine to make salt and this is what makes the ocean salty.  

But wait! When these mineral ions are dissolved in the river water that make the oceans salty, why aren’t the rivers salty too? Well, there are not enough ion in the river water to make it salty, but because all the rivers around the world empty in the ocean, they bring in lots and lots of minerals with salts.  

How salty are the oceans? 
Were the oceans always salty? No. Oceans weren’t always salty. Infact, when the Earth was first formed, oceans were only a little salty. In the billions of years between then and now, oceans have gotten saltier. And how salty is it? If you could divide all the ocean water in the world into 1,000 containers, 35 of those containers would be filled with salt. Yes, really! 

Or if we were to spread all the salt of the ocean on land, it would create a 500 feet thick layer of salt all over the Earth! Now, that’s a lot of salt!  
 
Bonus fact: Pacific Ocean contains almost half of all the salt water on our planet! 

Is this water useful? 
You can say that while you cannot afford to have this water because of high levels of salt concentration not ideal for human bodies, many creatures in the sea rely on it to survive! It can also be used to treat certain skin conditions, such as eczema. Also, with the increasing shortage of fresh water, saltwater can be turned into drinking water using a special process called desalination. But do note that this is expensive and is most typically only done on an industrial level. 

Strange ocean facts  

• 95% of our oceans are still unexplored.  
• About 94% of the earth's wildlife is found in oceans. 
• More than 70% of the earth's oxygen is produced by ocean. 
• The sun gives the ocean its iconic blue tint.