sea salt

[Ankit Gupta]

Does any body know from where all that salt came into the sea and oceans ? lake or river water do not contain any salt so from where

[sunshaker]

Does any body know from where all that salt came into the sea and oceans ? lake or river water do not contain any salt so from where

Salt builds up over time.

It is called the Hydrological cycle,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle

 

 

 

 

 

Just seen this fact that there is 6x more fresh water in the air than all the rivers in the world.

 

But thinking on this,

How much salt can the seas take before becoming to salty for life?

 

12 saltest places on earth http://geology.knoji.com/the-12-saltiest-places-on-earth/

[John Cuthber]

lake or river water do not contain any salt so from where

Yes they do, but not much.

The point is that the salt can't easily get out of the sea (unlike water which can evaporate).

So most of the world's salt is already in the oceans.

[studiot]

 

The point is that the salt can't easily get out of the sea (unlike water which can evaporate).

 

John has given you most of the reasoning, but the point is stronger than that.

 

Terrestrial freshwater is constantly being flushed through and replenished with new freshwater.

This applies to lakes, rivers and groundwater.

So the water 'gets out' as John puts it not just by evaporation but also by simply flushing through.

 

But in the sea or ocean there is nowhere for the water to go to, apart from evaporation.

[Acme]

Yes they do, but not much.

The point is that the salt can't easily get out of the sea (unlike water which can evaporate).

So most of the world's salt is already in the oceans.

I question that most of Earth's salt is in the oceans. I can't find an estimate for salt in/on land as with such numbers available for oceans, so I won't cite what I don't have.

 

Nonetheless, there is a salt cycle in the oceans just like a hydrologic cycle. Salt settles to the bottom and becomes part of the sediments while new salt is added by the rivers & aerosols born by wind which are taking salt from mineral deposits on land.* So too, salt spray along coast lines deposit salt(s) back on land. This is part of why ocean salinity remains relatively constant.

 

*

...In addition to the biological debris that falls through the ocean as discrete particles and fluffy bits of marine snow, many inorganic particles from soils are caught up in the fecal pellets and other biogenic materials. All these particles have surfaces that may adsorb dissolved material from sea water and cause them to be buried in ocean floor sediments, thus removed from the ocean. ...

Ocean Chemical Processes

.

 

The foregoing on the salt cycle notwithstanding, I found a source that supports John's assertion that the oceans hold most of the world's salt. My doubt is settled. Great Caesar's ghost that's a salty lot!

... Assuming an average sodium chloride concentration of approximately 2.7% (27 g/litre), seawater contains the unimaginable quantity of 36 thousand billion tonnes of dissolved salt.

...

Say '36 trillion tonnes'. Unimaginable is just what I was going...erhm...did say.

Compare that to what is estimated in land deposits:

...The underground deposits of solid rock salt that formed due to the sedimentation of primordial oceans amount to around 4 billion tonnes of sodium chloride.

...

Salt deserts are the remains of former salt lakes whose water was completely evaporated by powerful sunlight. The world’s largest salt deserts contain several billion tonnes of rock salt deposits and cover an area of several thousand square kilometres. ...

Source: >>Global salt deposits

 

When life hands you lemons - break out the tequila and salt. ~ Unattested

[sunshaker]

sodium makes up 2.6% of earths crust, 0.2 of the human body, 0.002% of elements in the universe, We sometimes forget how important sodium is within all systems,

 

 

Did life only start in the oceans when it reached a higher enough level of salinity, would life have started without a salty ocean?

Did it take sodium for these first living particles to communicate and come together, Perhaps as within cells "The concentration differences between potassium and sodium across cell membranes create an electrochemical gradient known as the membrane potential"

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/sodium/

 

EDIT: If the reason the oceans are salty, And contain more salt than land, how/where did they first get the salt, I read that all the salt in the oceans would cover the land up to 500feet,

Sodium must have been deposited on earth late in its formation, Sodium/ice asteriods?

Edited July 16, 2014 by sunshaker

[Acme]

...EDIT: If the reason the oceans are salty, And contain more salt than land, how/where did they first get the salt, I read that all the salt in the oceans would cover the land up to 500feet,

Sodium must have been deposited on earth late in its formation, Sodium/ice asteriods?

No, it wasn't deposited late and no there are not sodium asteroids. The elements sodium and chlorine were here from the start of Earth's formation. While sodium chloride makes up IIRC about 87% of the ocean salts, the other elements making up the remainder were by-and-large here from the start as well. Sodium chloride is readily soluble in water and it's primarily that hydrologic cycle you earlier referenced that transported salt into the oceans as they formed.

 

While there is still much we don't know about these formative processes, one of the links I earlier gave gives a fair summary. Here's that link again: >> Ocean Chemical Processes

Edited July 16, 2014 by Acme

[Ankit Gupta]

so the origin of salt is not known ??

[Fuzzwood]

Initially from core fusion just like any other light elements.

[Acme]

so the origin of salt is not known ??

It is known. Read the article I gave in post #7. Read it in its entirety. >>Ocean Chemical Processes

 

I say again, the subject of Mars belongs in a separate thread.

[studiot]

 

I say again, the subject of Mars belongs in a separate thread.

 

 

+1

[Phi for All]

!

Moderator Note

Martian chemistry discussion has been split off to its own thread.

[Gen1GT]

What you all fail to recognize, is that sodium chloride currently in the seas is healthier than sodium chloride that used to be in the seas and is now mined. So much in fact, that sea salt costs $8 for a tiny shaker, and table salt costs $0.06 for nine pounds.

[hypervalent_iodine]

What you all fail to recognize, is that sodium chloride currently in the seas is healthier than sodium chloride that used to be in the seas and is now mined. So much in fact, that sea salt costs $8 for a tiny shaker, and table salt costs $0.06 for nine pounds.

 

Citation, please.

 

Edit: and preferably in a thread where it is on topic.

[zapatos]

What you all fail to recognize, is that sodium chloride currently in the seas is healthier than sodium chloride that used to be in the seas and is now mined. So much in fact, that sea salt costs $8 for a tiny shaker, and table salt costs $0.06 for nine pounds.

Can you please explain how it is healthier?

 

I would assume that the cost of mined salt versus the cost of sea salt has something to do with the cost of extraction, and not just its health benefits.

Edited August 11, 2014 by zapatos

[studiot]

 

What you all fail to recognize, is that sodium chloride currently in the seas is healthier than sodium chloride that used to be in the seas and is now mined.

 

I presume you are referring to the iodine content?

 

As a matter of interest sea salt was quite a bit more expensive than mined salt when I was a child, but they are roughly equally priced in my local supermarket today.

[Fuzzwood]

What you all fail to recognize, is that sodium chloride currently in the seas is healthier than sodium chloride that used to be in the seas and is now mined. So much in fact, that sea salt costs $8 for a tiny shaker, and table salt costs $0.06 for nine pounds.

NaCl = NaCl. I see no difference besides the rip-off price they can ask guillible people. Or are you implying that some crackpot-defined energy has left the mined salt?

Edited August 11, 2014 by Fuzzwood

[studiot]

 

 

Fuzzwood

NaCl = NaCl. I see no difference besides the rip-off price they can ask guillible people. Or are you implying that some crackpot-defined energy has left the mined salt?

 

 

 

Are you referring to me as gullible?

[Endy0816]

It is the texture, additives and trace elements that define the differences between the two. Personally I prefer sea salt, but to each their own.

[John Cuthber]

It is the texture, additives and trace elements that define the differences between the two. Personally I prefer sea salt, but to each their own.

ever done a double blind tasting?

[studiot]

In the early 1880s Sidney Ringer showed that the heart of a frog or tortoise would survive and continue to beat for long periods in a solution containing only the chlorides of sodium, potassium and calcium.

 

Following experimentation the following proportions were found best.

 

Na⁺ : K⁺ : Ca⁺⁺ 100 : 1.7 : 1

 

Further the hearts would quickly die if the calcium was not present.

 

It was later discovered that

 

1) The relative proportions of these ions was very similar to that in seawater

 

2) The relative proportions of these ions was very similar to that in the blood of most living creatures.

 

Iodine replacement for chloride is also found in seawater and blood and as a result after the second world war, iodine was added to rock salt in a similar way that other compounds were added to other foods such as bread and margarine to support those that might be missing.

 

Ringer's solution was used for many years in medicine and is still available today, but is more likely to be supplanted by Hartmann's.

Edited August 11, 2014 by studiot

[Endy0816]

ever done a double blind tasting?

 

Speaking for only myself, I tend to value the coarseness more than any other factor. I'm sure if I made saltwater out of them, I might not be able to tell. As I typically consume salt though, I've always observed an enjoyable difference.

[Acme]

Since mined salt gets in the ground from ancient evaporating seas it doesn't make sense that it should have any major chemical difference. This short article says the minerals in commercial sea salt have been removed from the mined salt and supports my suspicions.

 

The large grain size for cooking and food preparation is not unique to sea salt, as anyone who has used Kosher salt knows. There are practical reasons to use the larger grained salt in cooking and there is no end of such reasons expounded by cooks.

 

FWIW

Q&A: Is 'sea salt' different from regular salt?

...A: Sea salt comes from evaporating sea water, with little or no processing. It's more coarse than table salt and can have an odor or flavor due to mineral residues such as magnesium.

 

Table salt comes from underground salt deposits and is processed to remove other minerals and nutrients. Additives are needed to prevent clumping, and iodine is often added for thyroid health.

 

Sea salt is promoted as having more health benefits than table salt, but there's nothing it offers that you can't easily get from other dietary sources

[Waleed]

simply, Hydrological cycle

 

the river salty but like ocean

[Moontanman]

Sea salt does indeed taste different than mined salt and for good reason, mined salt is heavier in sodium than sea salt freshly evaporated from the sea. Sea salt has a more bitter metallic taste due to a higher concentrations of other salts. Salt that is naturally formed separates out naturally to some extent and the other ions are processed out of mined salt.

 

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/sea-salt/faq-20058512