When the HCl dissolves in water it forms hydrochloric acid which then leaches sodium out of the rock on the sea floor. The gases coming from the vents have high concentrations of hydrogen chloride (HCl). The secret to understanding the high concentration of NaCl in the ocean emmanates from submerged volcanic vents on the ocean floor. The concentration of NaCl in land rocks is quite low, so river water does not carry much of it to the oceans. While the process described in the paragraph above is the one most commonly presented to explain how the oceans became salty, it cannot explain the preponderance of NaCl. As this cycle repeated itself over the eons, the levels of salt in the ocean rose. Then some of this evaporated water falls as rain on the land, dissolves more salts, and carries them to the ocean. When water evaporates from the ocean it leaves the salt behind. Although the fresh water which flows to the ocean contains low concentrations of salt, the salts they do contain accumulate in the ocean.
The oceans became salty over the last several hundred million years via several mechanisms. Sodium chloride should sound familiar as there is likely a small container of it sitting on your dinner table. But far and away, the most common salt is sodium chloride (NaCl) which represents 85% of the ocean’s salinity.
The oceans contain just about every salt known on earth. Ocean water is quite salty, with an average salinity of 3.5%, which is 220 times higher than the average lake or stream. As I started to write it, I began explaining some of the background on why the ocean is salty and why most plants and animals cannot tolerate salt water and, low and behold, it became this stand alone column. If you want to start at the beginning check out “Water Part I: Is God a Mathematician?” Part II was going to be about the desalination of water.
#Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink series#
Maybe the next time you have a sudden burst of thirst when you're stranded on the john you can bust this one out… to yourself, hopefully.After last week’s hiatus, I am picking back up with my series on water. But hey, that doesn't mean it's pretentious. Yeah, we can't really think of anything else. We admit this quotation is a bit situational-like, um, when you're stranded on a ship in the ocean without any fresh water. If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10. This quote is some seriously low-hanging fruit for just about anyone looking for a title about water.Ĭreating a precipitation education page? A National Geographic issue about oceanography? A World of Warcraft quest where you…water crops? Look no further than "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Pretentious Factor We never really get to know what that mariner was thinking, but pretty soon he'll have a lot more to worry about than being parched.īatten down the hatches, boys. How's that for rain on your wedding day? Of course, it's also a very important point in the poem where everything starts to go downhill…or up current. In fact, even the boards of the ship are beginning to shrink from lack of water.īut why can't they get water? Because they're stranded in a boatload of water. The sailors are dehydrated and might start dying of thirst if they don't find something to drink. This is when our quote comes in, as they're lying stagnant without a fair wind to stretch their sails.īut what is the quote itself about? Well, to start, the whole thing is dripping with irony. That's when they change back to their original position that the albatross, surely, was good luck, flip-flopping like a fish out of water.or a politician. Soon their friendly breeze dies completely, and they're stranded in the motionless ocean. But when the mist and fog depart, they change their minds and are glad it's dead.because it must have been bad luck. Part II begins with the sailors being angry because their good luck charm is gone. Part I of " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" finishes with that good-for-nothin' mariner killing the albatross.
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