Salts come out of rocks, often thanks to the rain. Rain is slightly more acidic than pure water. That’s because carbon dioxide from the air combines with water to form carbonic acid. In most cases, rain is not acidic enough to harm plants or animals — although certain pollutants from factories and cars can make what’s called acid rain, which can cause all sorts of problems. But rain does cause rocks to erode, or slowly break down over time. Minerals, including various salts, break free from rocks. They seep into the ground or water around them.
Rivers don’t get very salty, because minerals come out of rocks in small quantities. But rivers are constantly feeding water into the ocean. That river water doesn’t really leave once it arrives — unless it evaporates under the sun. And evaporation doesn’t get rid of the salt. Salt leaves the ocean only when living things use it or carry it out on their bodies.
When the planet was new, our oceans probably weren’t that salty. Their saltiness — called salinity — built up over time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that if you took all the salt out of the ocean and spread it out on land, it would form a layer 500 feet thick over the entire surface.
The ocean isn’t the only place that accumulates salty water. The Dead Sea, which is bordered by Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, is considered one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet. And it is actually a lake! Most lakes have water flowing out, not just in, which keeps salt from accumulating. But after water enters the Dead Sea from the Jordan River, it has no way to exit. And the lake’s location — in a very dry place, and sitting very far below sea level — means it evaporates quickly. The salinity is so high near the bottom of the Dead Sea that salt clumps together to form big crystals.
Although seawater is fun to play in, try your best not to swallow more than an accidental mouthful. Your body needs salt to survive, but you must urinate any extra amount before it poisons you. A glass of ocean doesn’t actually contain enough water to make up for the added salt. It won’t take too much ocean gulping before your body runs out of water. So make sure you stay hydrated while you enjoy the sea this summer!
Saldino Science 
It was a good article, it shows how salt forms in the ocean. It is important to us because people swim all the time in the oceans and the article said that there is as much salt in the ocean to fill the entire surface and it would be a 500 feet layer of salt. This information can help humans that swim in the ocean to not to swallow a lot of salt water.-V.P
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when the article stated that salt would form a layer 500 feet thick over the entire surface.” I was really suprized there was that many. Also the article stated the red sea is one of the saltest bodies of water. It said it was so salty that crystles formed on the sea floor. I thought this was really cool because I never new there was so much salt in the red sea.-NF
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I think this article is important because many people go to the beach during the summer, and all year round, but most people don’t really stop to consider the cool facts about the ocean, and they don’t stop and wonder why the ocean is salty, for example, or why it is blue. Sure, you might taste some saltiness go into your mouth, and you might even feel the sting when the ocean water goes in your cut. But you might not really wonder why and how. This article was very interesting, and new to me, and I think many others will be surprised when they hear this information.
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I think this was a helpful article, because it told us how there is salt in oceans. This information is helpful as many people go to the beach to swim in the ocean, and the article told us how much salt there is and why we shouldn’t swallow much of it. The article stated that “If you took all the salt out of the ocean and spread it out on land, it would form a layer 500 feet thick over the entire surface.” The article also explained that “It won’t take too much ocean gulping before your body runs out of water.” This information from the article would help people be more careful about accidentally swallowing salt water.
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I think this article helped me because I never knew why oceans had salt in them. I learned that the salt came from minerals which seep into the ground. I also learned that you can die if you drink a lot of salt water. The last thing I learned was the Dead Sea is the saltiest body of water! I never knew these things and now I understand them.
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I think the article was very interesting. I liked the way it described how water is salty in the ocean, but not in the river. But one thing that I noticed was that it said that the oceans weren’t salty when the planet was new, but it still rained when we weren’t alive. So, we don’t know how long it had been raining before we stepped on the earth.
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When people go out to the beach to have fun they don’t normally think about the dangers of salt water. I learned that the dead sea is the saltiest body of water on the planet and that it can be poisonous. I found that very interesting. This is important because it is good to be aware of this and what could happen if you gulp to much salt water. So next time you go to the beach be careful of the salt water.
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when people go out to the beach. they don’t realize how dangerous the waters are. I learned that rain is slightly acidic than pure water. When the rain hits the ocean, the water will be kind of acidic because of the rain. Another thing I learnt was that the dead sea is the saltiest body of water, it can be poisonous. This is important becuase it is good to know that you should be careful when you are in the sa water because if you gulp to much salt water, it won’t be good.
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I like how detailed your response is and I agree completly. The ocean is very dangerous and you can get very sick by drinking its water. and i also learned that rain is slightly more acidic than pure water.
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The rocks has salt in it so when the water breaks the rock down the salt goes into the water. If you go play in the ocean you try your best not to swallow up the water, because the salt might “poison” you.
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I really like this article. I think that it is really informative. I always wonder how the salt gets in the ocean and my parents just told me that it was because of the rocks. I never understood them properly but now I do. This article was really helpful to me. I agree to Riya’s answer. I’ve always know that ocean water is bad but now I know how bad it is.
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I really liked this article. This article is really nice because it picked a topic that a lot of people can relate to. It talks about how ocean water is so salty and why. I fond this interesting because every year my family and I go on vacation the salty ocean water gets in my eyes and mouth and it is not fun. I always wonder why is the ocean so salty but the river is not. I also relate to Haripriya I think this article was very helpful and now I know a little more about the ocean that I swim in. JA
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I really enjoyed reading this article and I thought it was really interesting. I think this article is important because it informs us about how and why certain bodies of water are salty. I learned that salt gets into water from the small amounts from rivers, and that salt come out from rocks because of rain eroding them. I also learned that oceans will continue getting saltier because rivers will continue feeding salt into the river and the water will continue evaporating, leaving more and more salt behind.
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I really enjoyed this article. It has a lot of information. I like the part when it said that it is not good to drink the body’s of waters salty water and I would like to add that the water is not good because people can do some dad things like let out there stuff, litter and much more. It talks about how the water is salty and I can relate because when we go to the beach, I can smell the oceans salty water. This article was really awsome to learn about and everbody should read it.
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In this article I learned all about how oceans get their saltiness. I didn’t know that when the rocks break apart the parts make salt. Since there is a lot minerals and rocks in the ocean, it is salty but the river has way less rocks and minerals so it isn’t as salty. I think that over time the bodies of water will be really salty, because the rocks will fully have broken apart. Knowing how you make salt, it makes way more sense why the ocean is saltier then other bodies of water.
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