What makes Ocean Animals and Waves?

Answer: Elements in the Ocean

The Ocean is so big and so beautiful!

I wonder, what makes up that water that forms the waves.

I also wonder what exactly makes up ocean animals.

Thankfully I am taking science class, so let’s explore.

I raise my hand, “teacher what exactly makes up the stuff in the ocean, like where does it all come from?”

“Well, let’s start with the water that is in the ocean.

In science you learn water is made of H20.

That means each water molecule is

2 hydrogen’s bonded with 1 Oxygen.

H HO

Do you like the smell of the fresh ocean air?

The Ocean produces 70% of the Oxygen we breathe.

Ocean animals like fish, use gills to also

breathe the oxygen.

(These are the gills of a Tuna Fish. Cool huh!)

Lets start with the smallest unit in the ocean. Atoms are the smallest units that make up items in the ocean.

Different amount of atoms make up elements.

For example, we said ocean water is H20.

The H is for Hydrogen and it has one electron (negative),

and one proton (positive), for its’ atoms.

Oxygen on the other hand has 8 electrons, 8 protons, and 8 neutrons. Oxygen is crucial for ocean animals

and humans to breathe and live. Look in your science book for the Periodic Table of Elements.

The Periodic table explains all the known elements.

Now these elements can combine to make compounds!

Elements have their 1 box in the periodic table.

Compounds are 2 or more elements combined, like H20.

Compounds can be held together by a single, double, or triple bond. So next time you ride a wave or see dolphins cruising the ocean, you know its elements that make up the ocean water.

Because of the arrangement of the elements in water,

2 Hydrogen’s to 1 Oxygen, an unbalanced

molecule is created with a more negative side. That is why scientist say “water is a polar molecule.” I am so

smart, I think the polar molecule looks like a polar bear, which are very aggressive, strong, and negative.

Polar bears have negative attitudes and polar molecules (like H20,water) are also negatively charge.

There are other elements that make up ocean animals such as the element carbon. Carbon (C ) makes up the

shells, bones, and cartilage of animals. Carbon even makes up the skeletons of coral reefs. Too much human trash creates too much Carbon Ions which changes the sea. It also changes the animals shells and plates out of

calcium carbonate (CaCO3), killing the home of millions of types of fish and sealife. We call the study of carbon,

“organic chemistry”.

Humans create too much trash which ends up in the watershed. It pollutes the water cycle, creating too much Carbon Dioxide CO2. This changes the ocean water, pH (power of H = Hydrogen). C02 kills animals and everything in the ocean we as humans depend on. Don’t litter, it ends up in our watershed, and our ocean creating an over carbonated water. Want to be an ocean hero and stop this problem, be like me, stop using plastic bottles/bags and use recyclable bottles, canvas bags. Be smart, don’t trash your community, recycle, and eat more sustainable foods, this will reduce CO2 and we will have a cleaner planet!

“So class, the ocean water and animals are made from elements.”

I am now an “ocean genius” for I explored using science, and now so are you!

You know that scientist use the periodic table of elements to list the elements that

make up all ocean life and make up the water in the ocean. Don’t put trash that is made up of non-recyclable elements and

plastics that end up in our watershed.

We all need and use the ocean. The rain that falls, the waters we drink and bathe in is part of the water cycle -- all are linked to the ocean. So make good decisions like throw away your trash and recycle so that our ocean stays clean and fish can swim!

Be an ocean hero!