Considering that salt does not evaporate with water, what makes the ocean air salty?

Question

Here are some of the possibilities I came up with. As the salt could not directly come from the ocean, a few of my ideas assume dealing with salt deposits on the beach/shore.

A. Waves, splashes throw the saltwater into the air, allowing some of the water to evaporate and the dissolved salt to either evaporate as well or dissolve into the air.

B. Salt deposits on the beach are exposed to wind erosion, putting salt in the air.

C. Salt deposits on such a massive scale have enough sublimation to make a major impact around the oceans.

D. The ocean air is not really salty, it is the dryness of the air caused by the salt that creates the different atmosphere (I doubt this, but it has probably been two years since I went to the beach)

Unfortunately I get seasick, so the last time I've been far out to see I don't remember if the air was still salty.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I have a question to you: how did you know that the air is salty? We all know that the air cannot be tasted so what makes you think it is salty?

Answer 2

I know what you mean. When you are near the coast you sometimes get salt on your skin which you can taste.

A is right. Droplets of sea spray evaporate leaving little nuclei of salt crystals which form a salt dust in the air. I remember once being on the west coast of Ireland on a very windy day with cloud and low sunlight - you could see the salt in the air as a fine white mist.

Answer 3

An interesting question and good reasoning on your part.   The answer is "A" as you have outlined it.

Sodium chloride has a very low vapor pressure and will not evaporate or sublime except at exceedingly high temperatures.   However,  the action of the waves throws very tiny droplets of salt water into the air.   When the water evaporates,  it leaves nano scale particles of sodium chloride dispersed in the air.

It turns out this is a severe problem for manufacture of electronic components.   I was involved in a company considering building a capacitor manufacturing facility in San Diego.   We determined that we could not build the facility within 3 miles of the ocean because of the nano scale particulate sodium chloride in the air which would cause unacceptable impurities in the product.

Answer 4

A

The crashing waves causes droplets to be liberated into the air.  The size is very minute so the water actually evaporates rather quickly leaving minuscule crystals  of salt airborne.

The distance traveled by the crystals is not very far so you may end up with salt "dust" on your skin and you may taste the salt........

Basically, the salt is atomized similar the way an ultrasonic humidifier wil atomize the water.  If this was salt water, you would have the same result with "salty" air.

Answer 5

It's the same mechanism that causes rain.  Every raindrop has a tiny piece of dust in it the water forms around.  In the case of salt air from sea water, each droplet has a small grain of salt in it.

This is why, if you live on the coast, your stuff will rust just from the salt in the air that is deposited on it.

Answer 6

Ocean air is not salty at all. The certain smell is from algae and the dryness.  

Answer 7

isn't it obvious? the air is salty because god made it that way...