Why is the sea salty?

Where does the salt come from – and how do we get it out?

Salt disappears!

Stir salt into water. The salt seems to vanish – it dissolves. Taste a tiny drop: it is still there!

Sugar dissolves in water too. That is how we make sweet sharbat.

Rain flows over rocks and picks up tiny bits of salt. Rivers carry the salt to the sea. That is why the sea is salt water.

Bangladesh sits on one of the biggest river deltas in the world, where rivers meet the Bay of Bengal.

The Sun heats the sea. Water evaporates into the air. The salt stays behind. Clouds make rain – the rain is fresh water.

The water vapour rises, cools and makes clouds. This is part of the water cycle.

In Cox’s Bazar and Moheshkhali, farmers fill salt pans with seawater. The Sun evaporates the water. White salt is left behind to collect!

Salt farmers work in the dry winter months, when there is lots of sunshine and little rain.