You could be out in the middle of the ocean – surrounded by thousands of kilometres of water – and not have any water to drink when you’re thirsty. Why? Because ocean water is full of salt. If you did drink it, it would simply make you more thirsty.
The ocean is salty because rivers dump salt into it. All the rivers that flow down mountainsides and over the land tear loose tonnes of minerals. Most of these minerals are different kinds of salts. The rivers carry these salts to the ocean.
There’s never enough salt in most rivers to make the river water taste salty. But rivers have been dumping salt into the ocean for millions of years. By now, there is enough salt in the ocean to cover all of the land on the earth with a layer of salt hundreds of metres deep!
Picture Credit : Google