I've always wondered how they prevent all the salts from reacting. Or what they do with side products. If you run electricity through salty water, you tend to

I've always wondered how they prevent all the salts from reacting. Or what they do with side products. If you run electricity through salty water, you tend to get a whole bunch of interesting chemistry happening. There are products you can buy that perform electrolysis on water with a small bit of salt to make bleach (sodium hypochlorite). If you bung in a shitload of salt, you eventually get sodium chlorate, or perchlorate forming, depending on the amount of amps you chuck in. You also get chlorine coming off, etc... You can kinda limit or control this with membranes, but with seawater you have a fuckload of side reactions that are going to happen.