The Chemistry of Seawater THE OCEANS CONTAIN MILLIONS OF DISSOLVED chemical substances . Most of these are present in exceedingly small concentrations. Those present in significant concentrations include sea salt, which is not a single substance but a mixture of charged particles called ions. Other constituents include gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. One reason the oceans contain so many dissolved substances is that water is an excellent solvent. The Salty Sea The salt in the oceans exists in the form of charged particles, called ions, some positively charged and some negatively charged. The most common of these are sodium and chloride ions, the components of ordinary table salt (sodium chloride). Together they make up about 85 percent by mass of all the salt in the sea. Nearly all the rest is made up of the next four most common ions, which are sulfate, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. All these ions, together with several others present in smal...