# "Salt air" and corrosion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863 "2023-06-21T00:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/1 "2023-06-21T00:46:42Z")
I’ve lived in a shore town in New Jersey for many years but did not grow up here. Things like lawn chairs and deck furniture, (really anything made of metal) seem to rust out quickly. Not to mention, cars. People are always blaming the “salt air”. Its an accepted thing. It’s a myth, right? I mean, there can’t be actual salt in the air. Is it more humid here than 20 miles inland? Maybe, with the onshore breeze that happens almost every afternoon in the summer. Its also usually cooler than inland, thus closer to the dewpoint. If you don’t use AC, things tend to get soggy. Cars (especially the undercarriage) tend to rust, probably after driving through standing saltwater during very high tides but salt air? I think people who grew up actually believe there is salt in the air. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/2 "2023-06-21T00:51:34Z")
Salt air is also called sea spray: > **[Sea spray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_spray)** > > Sea spray are aerosol particles formed from the ocean, mostly by ejection into Earth's atmosphere by bursting bubbles at the air-sea interface. Sea spray contains both organic matter and inorganic salts that form sea salt aerosol (SSA). SSA has the ability to form cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and remove anthropogenic aerosol pollutants from the atmosphere. Coarse sea spray has also been found to inhibit the development of lightning in storm clouds. > Sea spray is directly (and indirectly, thro... ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2023, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/3 "2023-06-21T01:09:29Z")
Go out and lick that corroded lawn furniture. It will taste salty. I used to work as a CATV linesman in a beach town and there was very specific distance from the ocean (about 200 yards) where salt corrosion was very apparent on the taps and then didn’t occur at all. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/4 "2023-06-21T01:14:15Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > I mean, there can’t be actual salt in the air. Of course there can. > **[Sea salt aerosol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_salt_aerosol)** > > Sea salt aerosol, which originally comes from sea spray, is one of the most widely distributed natural aerosols. Sea salt aerosols are characterized as non-light-absorbing, highly hygroscopic, and having coarse particle size. Some sea salt dominated aerosols could have a single scattering albedo as large as ~0.97. Due to the hygroscopy, a sea salt particle can serve as a very efficient cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), altering cloud reflectivity, lifetime, and precipitation process. According Ma... Finely divided salt particles, evaporated out of sea spray, is fine enough to stay aerosolized for miles from its source, exactly the same way that smoke particles can remain airborne. And then the salt dust settles on surfaces, absorbs humidity, and facilitates corrosion. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/5 "2023-06-22T00:58:50Z")
Well, I’ll be…no longer ignorant. At least, on this topic. I had to look up "single scattering albedo of 0.97’ and I still don’t know what it means. Reflects a lot of light, I guess. The sea salt aerosol entry on wikipedia doesn’t mention corrosion as an impact. All very interesting. That said, I never see salt on the windows of my car. Maybe I should go out and have a lick, like **Elmer\_JFudd** says. Who care what the neighbors think? I draw the line at lawn furniture, however. I’m not weird. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/6 "2023-06-22T04:03:54Z")
It’s also why trees near the shore tend to lean away from the ocean. It’s not that the prevailing wind pushes them that way. Salt spray suppresses growth on the side facing the water. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/7 "2023-06-22T04:48:44Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Go out and lick that corroded lawn furniture. It will taste salty. I used to work as a CATV linesman in a beach town and there was very specific distance from the ocean (about 200 yards) where salt corrosion was very apparent on the taps and then didn’t occur at all. This sounds pretty accurate, The first 100 yards gets hit pretty hard. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/8 "2023-06-23T01:56:38Z")
Wouldn’t they grow towards the sea then. The side of the tree growing faster is the longer path, so the tree curves towards the slower growing part. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/9 "2023-06-23T02:30:30Z")
Nope, AFAICT: see [“salt pruning”.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_pruning#:~:text=Salt%20pruning%20is%20the%20process,foliage%20on%20the%20landward%20side) Less-short short answer, AFAICT: It’s not that the trunk of the tree is necessarily growing at two different rates on opposite sides. It’s that the salt aerosols kill growth on the seaward side, which stimulates more growth and branching in the tree’s development, but on the other, less salt-ridden side. [ETA: Yeah, what Balance said better.] ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/10 "2023-06-23T02:37:53Z")
It’s not like a bimetallic strip, where the lengthening of one side bends it toward the other. It’s that stuff on one side survives better, so it can grow farther in the direction it’s already going. The greater mass of wood and foliage on that side then biases the trunk in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-air-and-corrosion/985863/11 "2023-06-23T05:02:50Z")
Ok cool I was thinking of the plant shoot growth experiments back in high school, where sunlight breaks down one of the growth hormones, which means growth on the shady side is higher and so the shoot curves towards the sun.