Except for salt, what is the most common mineral dissolved in seawater?

wdstk

chloride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater Feb 29 12, 6:16 PM

sportsherald

Chloride is part of NaCl, salt. "The six most abundant ions of seawater are chloride (Cl?), sodium (Na+), sulfate (SO24?), magnesium (Mg2+), calcium (Ca2+), and potassium (K+). By weight these ions make up about 99 percent of all sea salts... Inorganic carbon, bromide, boron, strontium, and fluoride constitute the other major dissolved substances of seawater" from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/531121/seawater So inorganic carbon is the most common non-salt component dissolved in seawater. Feb 29 12, 6:27 PM

cave_draco

Just to emphasize sportsherald's response, seawater doesn't actually contain salt, NaCl. What it does contain is chloride ions and sodium ions both of which are stabilised by lots of water molecules, one chloride ion is 'bonded' to a dozen or so water molecules. As to the ion concentrations, they vary BUT there is Standard Seawater! http://www.hohusa.net/standard_seawater.html Mar 01 12, 7:45 AM

davejacobs

http://www.icr.org/article/does-salt-come-from-evaporated-sea-water/ Its hard for the layman to believe that seawater does not contain salt! especially as there are industries that manufactiute salt by evaporating seawater. It's a matter of how you choose to describe it. The chemist talks about ions, but the layman may talk about 'salts', of which common salt is the most common of course! Another source says "Sea water is a mixture of various salts and water". http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8p.html Having said that, I can't find out what the second commonest 'salt' or mineral might be. Mar 01 12, 9:00 AM

queproblema

"Seawater consists of about 3.5% (by weight) dissolved mineral substances that are collectively termed salts." Recipe for artificial seawater Combine: Sodium chloride 23.48 g Magnesium chloride 4.98 g Sodium sulfate 3.92 g Calcium chloride 1.10 g Potassium chloride 0.66 g Sodium bicarbonate 0.192 g Potassium bromide 0.096 g Hydrogen borate 0.026 g Strontium chloride 0.024 g Sodium fluoride 0.003 g Then add: Pure water to form 1000 g of solution. And I'm guessing that nice table is going to be turned into mash when I hit the reply button. "Sodium chloride together with the next four most abundant salts comprise more than 99% of all dissolved substances in the sea. Although only eight elements make up these five most abundant salts, seawater contains all of Earth's other naturally occurring elements." Lutgens, F., & Tarbuck, E. (2011). Foundations of earth science. (Sixth ed., pp. 261-62). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. So, interpreting "salt" as "table salt," i.e., sodium chloride, the next most common mineral dissolved in seawater is another salt, magnesium chloride. Everything on that list is in seawater as a salt, which basically means, it's dissolved. That's why, technically, there's no "salt" in the sea. The question may be looking for a metal, such as gold or copper mercury. Technically, there's no such thing as a "dissolved mineral"; by definition, a mineral is solid, which, ironically, means water is not a mineral, but ice is! "A mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic solid that possesses an orderly crystalline structure and a definite chemical composition." Same book as above, p. 38. Well, I see the table WASN'T turned to mash, but one of my statements is nearly pure gibberish--no fault of FT formatting! "Everything on that list is in seawater as a salt, which basically means, it's dissolved. That's why, technically, there's no 'salt' in the sea." Huh? I was talking about dissociation, which cave_draco and davejacobs described but didn't name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation_%28chemistry%29#Salts Mar 01 12, 8:10 PM