how come the salt doesnt just end up at the bottom of the sea?
2007-02-13 09:41:30 · 5 answers · asked by super_jozie 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Because sodium-chloride (salt) has a high solubility. That is, they will dissolve in water easily. Over billions of years water has removed the salts contained in the rocks and concentrated it in the oceans.
Why doesn't the salt just end up at the bottom of the ocean? Well that's once again due to the solubility of salt. The ocean is not saturated with enough salt for that to happen. If you increase the amount of salt in the ocean then you will get precipitation of salt. This is the case with a salt lake. But in this case you are not increasing the amount of salt but rather decreasing the amount of water through evaporation.
2007-02-13 10:19:54 · answer #1 · answered by Professor Kitty 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water is known as the universal solvent. As rain hits the lands surfaces it melts the "salts" are dissolved and eventually run into the seas and oceans. Over the millennium the salts, halite, etc. were built up enough so that the oceans actually became salty.
2007-02-13 09:58:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably if the ocean totally stopped moving, the salt would settle to the bottom, but it's light enough to keep suspended (along with a lot of other gunk) due to the constant motion of the water.
2007-02-13 09:49:32 · answer #3 · answered by T J 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The concentration isn't high enough yet for it to crystallise out of solution.
2007-02-13 09:44:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
'Cause if it was sugary everybody would drink it up!
2007-02-13 09:49:21 · answer #5 · answered by Numb 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋