Rock salt is a sedimentary mineral consisting primarily of sodium chloride. The composition of impurities depends on the characteristics of the deposits. Why is it rock salt, and not just, for example, sodium or chloride? This name reflects the state of the mineral and human attitude towards it. In their natural state, these are truly salty stones. Then, after processing, halite, as this salt is also called, becomes just the former salty powder. It is in this form that it acquires the name table salt.
Rock salt is a sedimentary mineral consisting primarily of sodium chloride
Halite stone belongs to the natural minerals of the halogen class of the sodium chloride subclass. However, most people on the planet know this stone simply as salt.
The mineral halite received its scientific name in Ancient Greece. The translation of this word is ambiguous, but its meaning is two concepts - sea and salt. Chemical formula Simple rock salt is NaCl as the main substance and other elements as impurities. Pure rock salt contains 61% chlorine and 39% sodium.
IN pure form this mineral can be:
- transparent;
- opaque but translucent;
- colorless or white with signs of glassy luster.
However, pure NaCl is rare in nature. Its deposits can have shades of colors:
- yellow and red (presence of iron oxide);
- dark - from brown to black (admixtures of decomposed organic matter, for example, humus);
- gray (clay impurities);
- blue and lilac (presence of potassium chloride).
The mineral halite is brittle, hygroscopic and, of course, has a salty taste. It dissolves well in water at any temperature, but melts only at high temperatures - not lower than 800°C. When fire melts, it turns yellow.
The crystalline structure of rock salt is a dense cube, the nodes of which contain negative chlorine ions. The octahedral voids between the chlorine atoms are filled with positively charged sodium ions. The crystal lattice structure is a sample perfect order— in it, each chlorine atom is surrounded by six sodium atoms, and each sodium atom is adjacent to the same number of chlorine ions.
Ideal cubic crystals in some deposits are replaced by octahedral ones. In salt lakes, crusts and druses can form at the bottom.
Gallery: rock salt (25 photos)
Massage with rock salt stones (video)
Origin of salt deposits
Rock salt is a mineral of exogenous origin. Salt deposits were formed during sedimentary processes in a dry and hot climate. The origin of salt deposits is associated with the slow drying of drainless salt lakes, sea bays and shallow waters.
Halite salt is formed in small quantities during soil salinization and during volcanic activity. Soil salinization occurs in arid regions. This process can develop under natural or anthropogenic conditions. Natural salinization occurs where groundwater with high salinity comes close to the surface. This water evaporates, and a salt crust forms on the soil surface. In addition, the soil can also become salinized from above, for example, during sea surges or tsunamis. In this case, a large amount of salty sea water penetrates into the lower horizons of the soil, and then evaporates, and salt is deposited on the surface.
A person contaminates the soil with abundant watering in arid climates. In regions where the evaporation of water from the lower layers of the soil collectively exceeds the influx of water through precipitation, the soil is highly mineralized. If you water it, evaporation also increases. As a result, minerals deposited in different soil layers come to the surface. On such soil a salt crust forms, preventing any manifestation of life.
Rock salt is divided into the following categories based on its origin.
- Self-sedimentary, which forms in evaporite basins, deposited as granular crusts and druses.
- Stone, lying in large layers between different rocks.
- Volcanic salt rock that is deposited in fumaroles, craters and lavas.
- Salt marshes, representing salt crusts on the soil surface in an arid climate.
Geography of main deposits
Halite is concentrated mainly in deposits of the Permian period. This was approximately 250 - 300 million years ago. Then almost everywhere in Eurasia and North America a dry and hot climate formed. Ponds of salt water quickly dried up, and the salt layers were gradually covered by other sedimentary rocks.
On the territory of Russia, the largest deposits of halite are located in the Urals (Solikamskoye and Iletskoye deposits), in Eastern Siberia near Irkutsk (Usolye-Sibirskoye deposit). Halite is mined in industrial scale in the lower reaches of the Volga, as well as on the banks of the famous salt lake Baskunchak.
Significant halite deposits are located:
- in the Donetsk region (Artemovskoye field);
- in Crimea (Sivash region);
- in northern India in the state of Punjab;
- in the USA - the states of New Mexico, Louisiana, Kansas, Utah;
- in Iran - the Urmia field;
- in Poland - the Bochnia and Wieliczka salt mines;
- in Germany near Bernburg, where halite has blue and lilac shades;
- large salt lakes are located in western South America.
Uses of rock salt
No matter how much people criticize the use of rock salt in the food industry and in everyday life, people cannot do without this “white death”. These are not just mineral compounds, although the complex composition of rock salt in some deposits is highly valued in medicine. Salt dissolved in water or food increases the number of ions, that is, positively and negatively charged particles, which activates all processes occurring in the body.
However, halite has also found its use in the chemical industry. For example, the production of hydrochloric acid, sodium peroxide and other compounds that are in demand in various consumer sectors cannot be done without NaCl. The use of halite, in addition to its consumption as food, provides more than 10,000 different production processes and final consumption.
This mineral is still the most popular and cheapest preservative, helping people live from one harvest to another, transport food over long distances, and stock up on food for future use. The function of salt as a preservative has saved and is now saving people all over the world from hunger.
Nowadays, sodium chloride has become one of the cheapest food products. And once upon a time there were salt riots. Convoys with this product moved under heavy security. This product was part of soldiers' rations. Perhaps the consonance between the words soldier and salt is not accidental.
How rock and extra salt are produced (video)
Salt extraction methods
How is halite mined nowadays? Modern mining is carried out using several methods.
- Mass mining large quantity Rock salt is produced by the mine method, which involves extracting rock salt from sedimentary rocks. Since halite is a solid solid monolith, it has to be softened when high temperature and under pressure. Special salt harvesters are used to raise salt to the surface.
- The vacuum method involves boiling minerals out of water with high level dissolved salt concentration. To obtain brine, a well is drilled to reach the rock salt deposit. After this, clean fresh water is pumped into the subsoil. The mineral quickly dissolves in it, forming a saturated solution. After this, the brine is pumped to the surface. This is usually how salt is extracted for food and medical needs, since the brine does not contain impurities of other rocks.
- The lake method is based on the extraction of salt in open salt reservoirs. This method does not require the construction of boreholes or the construction of mines. However, the product obtained in this way requires careful cleaning, which affects the cost.
- The method of evaporating seawater has been practiced for about 2,000 years. It was popular in countries with dry and hot climates. To obtain salt from sea water, no energy sources were needed here, since the sun itself coped well with the process of evaporation of water. However, this process was very slow, so when there was a large concentration of people thirsting for salt, special heating was used.
The opposite of evaporation is a method practiced in regions with cold climates. The fact is that fresh water freezes faster than salt water. For this reason, the early ice in the vessel, when melted, was practically fresh water. In the remaining water, the concentration of salt increases. So from sea water it was possible to simultaneously obtain fresh water and saturated brine. Salt was boiled out of the water of the late ice quickly and with less energy consumption.
Nowadays, NaCl is a product that has become familiar, and the sign that spilled salt leads to a quarrel causes bewilderment. The use of sodium chloride in food is in the nature of bringing its taste to the state of sea water. This is a need for all organisms living on land.
The fact is that life arose in sea water. Not surprisingly, the internal environment of the human body corresponds to the parameters of salty sea water. So by consuming salt we restore the mineral balance established by evolution. Just don't stand out from the weak saline solution make a saturated solution and eat a lot of salt.
How can you use salt?
2. For cosmetic purposes
Fine salt is used in many scrubs that are easy to prepare at home. The naturalness of this component and its natural texture provide good result and no harm to the skin. However, it is important to remember that people with overly sensitive skin should also refrain from such methods or try them very carefully, salt causes irritation and redness.
If a piece of plaster has fallen off or you need to fill a small hole (for example, from a nail), you can use a mixture of water, salt and starch. Cheap, easy to do yourself, and no extra steps required to repair.
Of course, such a solution may not withstand the load; this must be taken into account. But it is quite possible to restore the interior’s former attractiveness and hide minor flaws.
Here the functionality of salt is very extensive. For example, you can make figures from salted bread. Salt can create an interesting texture for some paints. In the end, craftsmen simply lay out paintings from salt, sometimes achieving amazing detail and elegance. Of course, it is very easy to ruin such work with one careless movement, but when captured in a photograph, it can always please the author.
Rock salt (halite, Halite) is one of the most common minerals on earth. Chemical formula NaCl - A substance of natural origin, the main deposits are concentrated in places where in ancient times there were seas and oceans. The formation of new deposits occurs constantly; salt lakes, seas, and estuaries are potential deposits. For now elite varieties table salt is mined in existing lakes, and the underlying reserves are a zone of halite formation.
Origin
Halite has surface and fossil deposits. Surface deposits are divided into ancient deposits and modern formations. The ancient ones are mainly represented by sedimentary origin in places that once existed bays, lakes, and sea lagoons during a period when the planet was dry and very hot, which caused intense evaporation of water.
Fossil deposits occur in layers, stocks, or domes beneath the earth's surface in sedimentary environments. Layers fossil salt have a layered structure interspersed with clay and sandstone. The dome arrangement of halite is formed due to the movement of rocks, when the overlying layers, moving, push softer deposits of rock salt into weakened zones, resulting in a dome. The size of the domed halite can reach several tens of kilometers.
Types of halite
The mineral halite is divided into primary and secondary. The primary one was formed from the brine of ancient salt pools and has inclusions of other minerals. Secondary, later halite, formed as a result of redeposition of primary halite and is characterized high content bromine
The mineral of secondary origin has a transparent, coarse-grained structure and forms large nests in the thickness of rock salt. When developing deposits, large nests of halite of secondary origin that come across are sometimes surprising with the beauty and clarity of lines, and the variety of colors. In strata deposits, halite is located in the form of veins, while its structure is more dense, white, sometimes the peripheral endings are colored Blue colour, which may indicate radioactivity.
Characteristics of the mineral
Halite has a glassy luster, a hardness index of 2, and the specific gravity of the mineral is 2.1-2.2 g/cm 3 . Crystals are white, grey, pink, blue, red or colorless. In the mass, a nugget can be painted in several colors. Crystalline halite is soldered in three directions on any face of the cube. In nature, it is found in the form of stalactites, druses, crystals, plaques, sagging, etc.
The mineral has a composition of positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chlorine ions. Halite tastes salty, has a solid structure, dissolves completely in water, giving a sediment of impurities, and at elevated concentrations precipitates in the form of crystals or flakes.
Place of Birth
The world's two largest halite deposits are located in the Volgograd region of the Russian Federation, one is located on Lake Baskunchak, the second is on One of the long-discovered salt mines is the Sol-Iletskoye deposit in the Orenburg region and the Usolskoye deposit in Yakutia. In Ukraine, the Slavyano-Artemovskoye and Prikarpatskoye fields are being developed.
Large area reservoir deposits are located in Germany and Austria. In the United States, extensive reserves of halite are found in Oklahoma and the Saskatchewan Basin in Canada.
Main scope of application
Halite salt is most often used as a reagent in the fight against ice on roads. The climatic conditions of most of the territory of Russia are characterized by long periods of cold, precipitation, forming an ice shell. Considering the length of highways, no equipment is able to quickly clear the roadway. The use of halite-based mixtures helps to quickly and effectively deal with ice and ensure traffic safety.
Technical salt halite has the following advantages:
- Lightweight, versatility of use.
- Preservation of reagent qualities during low temperatures(up to -30°C).
- Environmental Safety.
- Low consumption.
- Low cost.
- General availability.
Features of application
Treating the road surface with a halite-based reagent provokes the formation of a slurry that destroys the ice crust tightly adhered to the asphalt. The disadvantage of the reagent is the solidification of the entire mass (reagent and melted ice) at temperatures below -30°C.
For better cleaning of roads, halite salt is mixed with sand or stone chips, which allows you to quickly and efficiently clear the asphalt from ice cover. According to technical specifications, to clean one square meter of road, no more than 150 grams of salt is required, which puts the mineral beyond competition in comparison with other reagents. For domestic needs, especially in winter period, you can purchase small packages of the mineral reagent. Industrial salt halite, the retail price of which varies from 5 rubles per kilogram, copes with the task perfectly.
Other uses
Technical salt (mineral halite) is used in industry in the following areas:
- Oil production. The main property of technical halite is the dissolution of ice, softening of frozen or hardened soil. In winter or in the Far North, a solution of mineral salt is pumped under pressure into drilled wells, which greatly facilitates further work and saves other resources.
- Tabletted halite is used for washing industrial boilers and heating systems in order to get rid of scale. This pressed form of the mineral is also used as a filter element for purifying large volumes of water, for example, in water wells. In addition to filtration, salt treatment rids water of germs and microorganisms. For domestic purposes it is used to reduce the hardness of hot water.
- Construction. Halite salt is used in the production of sand-lime bricks to make the final product resistant to sudden temperature changes, which also increases strength characteristics and extends service life. Bricks with salt additive during production have a lower cost. Salt added to the cement mortar helps it “set” faster, which speeds up the construction process and increases the durability and reliability of the building.
There are more than 14,000 areas in the world where commercial salt (halite) is used. In medicine it is used for the production of saline solutions, antiseptics, preservatives medicines. Technical salt has found application in the food industry as a refrigerant that allows you to quickly freeze and preserve food at the appropriate temperature.
Implementation
In implementation, there are three types of mineral, the differences lie in the characteristics:
- Highest grade - the sodium chloride content must be at least 97%, the content of foreign impurities is allowed no more than 0.85%.
- The first is at least 90% calcium chloride in mass, foreign impurities - 5%.
- Second, the minimum content of the main element should be about 80%, impurities are allowed in the amount of 12% of the total mass.
The amount of moisture for any variety is regulated at a level of no more than 4.5%. The price at which industrial salt (halite) is sold depends on the grade. The price per ton of raw materials ranges from 3500-3700 rubles (packaged).
According to GOST, storage and release of the mineral is allowed in bulk, in tons, in polypropylene packages of various weights. At the same time, salt packed in bags has a limited shelf life - up to five years, while salt without packaging can be stored for a very long time. for a long time.
Enterprises developing deposits sell minerals by the carload to wholesale buyers, which allows them to increase production. According to the grade, the cost of a mineral such as salt (halite) is determined. The price per ton when sold by carriage standards varies in the range from 1,400 to 2,600 rubles.
Besides technical application, halite is sold as a necessary mineral supplement for animals, in this case the pressed mineral is produced in briquettes.
For many millennia, table salt was used almost exclusively for food, to protect food from spoilage, and for pickling vegetables.
Small quantities were used to make leather. To obtain rawhide, loosened skins are treated with a mixture of alum and table salt; salt enhances the tanning effect of alum and dehydrates leather fibers, thereby preventing them from sticking together when dried. For a long time, dyers used table salt to prepare mordants, and soap makers used salt to salt out soap.
This continued almost until the end of the 18th century, until the development of weaving and spinning and the production of cheap fabrics from cotton required soda and chlorine. Table salt turned out to be the most suitable raw material for obtaining these products. In addition, as scientists have established, it could be used in the preparation of Glauber's salt and hydrochloric acid, alkalis, paints and many hundreds of other chemical products. For example, preserving leather is also not complete without the use of table salt: washed hides are dipped in a concentrated salt solution to protect them from rotting.
Like table salt, people became familiar with soda in ancient times. Egyptian craftsmen widely used soda to make glass and degrease wool, and used it in medicine.
Until the beginning of the 19th century. soda was extracted from the soda lakes of Egypt and some other countries, as well as from the ash of plants containing sodium salts in their tissues. In the Middle Ages and later, the Spanish soda “barilla” was famous, which was extracted from a specially bred salsola plant. In France, the source of vegetable soda was the selicor plant; in Scotland it was extracted from algae ash. In the 40s of the XVIII century. French chemist Duhamel de Monceau made an important discovery: he proved that table salt and soda have the same base - sodium. At that time, sodium had not yet been obtained in free form, and scientists thought that soda was not a chemical compound, but an element, like sulfur or phosphorus.
Duhamel's discovery gave scientists the idea of using table salt to produce soda. After all, if nature transforms the salt contained in the soil into soda from soda plants, then why can’t a person carry out a similar metamorphosis in the laboratory?
In 1775, the French Academy of Sciences announced a prize of 12,000 francs for The best way obtaining artificial soda. Many methods for producing soda were proposed, but they were all expensive and unprofitable, and chemists continued to find new ways to produce artificial soda.
In 1789, under the blows of the victorious revolution in France, the absolutist monarchy collapsed. From the first days of the birth of the new system, the French people had to defend the gains of the revolution with arms in hand. Surrounded by a ring of hostile states, the young republic was in dire need of ammunition. The basis of the black powder then used was saltpeter; Potash was needed to produce it.
In 1794, a government message appeared in Parisian newspapers: “The Republic needs potash for the manufacture of saltpeter, and soda could in many cases replace potash; nature gives us table salt in immeasurable quantities, from which soda can be extracted.” Many famous French chemists responded to this call - more than 30 proposals were received. Leblanc's method was unanimously recognized as the best.
A mixture of Glauber's salt, limestone (or chalk) and coal is heated in large brick kilns. The mass melts when thoroughly mixed with iron pokers or scrapers. Blue lights appear on the surface of the molten mass, and when they disappear, the alloy is removed from the furnace.
So, as a result of the reaction between the components of the mixture, soda was born. Glauber's salt was obtained by decomposing table salt with sulfuric acid.
Leblanc's invention freed France from foreign dependence, but the fate of the scientist himself was very tragic: in 1806, being in deep poverty, he committed suicide. A talented inventor and scientist was unable to overcome the callousness and greed of capitalist society.
Only some time after Leblanc's death, sulfur production using his method began to develop rapidly. Soda factories appeared in many European countries, producing hundreds of thousands of tons of soda and other chemical products. However, LeBlanc's method had many shortcomings. The most significant of them is the abundance of waste in the form of hydrogen chloride and calcium sulfide.
In the 30s of the last century, a new, simpler and more profitable way of producing soda from table salt was found, but almost 60 years passed before it became widespread. The method is as follows. A concentrated solution of table salt is saturated with ammonia, and then carbon dioxide, a product of calcining limestone in kilns, is passed through the brine under pressure. Ammonia reacts with carbon dioxide and water to form ammonium bicarbonate. The latter enters into an exchange decomposition reaction with sodium chloride and the resulting bicarbonate of soda precipitates, which is filtered and calcined. The result is soda ash, carbon dioxide and water. The gas is again used to saturate the brine. Ammonia is separated from a solution containing ammonium chloride by heating the solution with lime obtained by calcining limestone. Ammonia is also returned to the production cycle.
Thus, with the ammonia method of soda production, the amount of waste is much less than with the Leblanc method. The only waste product is calcium chloride, which finds some industrial application: solutions of calcium chloride are used to water roads to destroy dust, it is added to cooling mixtures, it is used for drying gases, dehydrating ether and other organic liquids, it is used in medicine.
In Russia, the scale of soda production began to expand only in the 80s of the last century, although small soda factories appeared already in the 60s. In 1864, M. P. Prang built a soda factory in Barnaul; At the plant, using the Leblanc method, soda was produced from natural Glauber's salt. The latter was extracted from the Marmyshan lakes, located in the Kulunda steppe 200 km from Barnaul.
The problem of producing soda artificially interested Russian scientists back in the 18th century. Academician Kirill Laxman in 1764, 11 years earlier than Malherbe and 27 years earlier than Leblanc, obtained soda from natural Glauber's salt. He was the first to propose replacing soda and potash with this salt in glass production.
At the same time, Russian scientists studied the possibility of industrial use of table salt. Many of them - Kireevsky, Krupsky, Mendeleev and others - passionately advocated for the creation of domestic soda production. Moreover, even then the production of many important chemical products was associated with it: sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, sodium sulfate, Berthollet salt, chlorine. Mendeleev wrote that “nowadays it is impossible to imagine the development of industry without the consumption of soda.” The appearance of domestic soda on the market, in his opinion, would also provide a service to agriculture. Replacing potash with soda in many industries would contribute to the conservation of forests.
However, the successful development of soda production in Russia was hampered by the high excise tax on table salt. Despite the persistent demands of scientists and industrialists, the tsarist government for a long time did not want to remove the excise tax on salt. Only in 1881 were the shackles that had fettered the emergence of large-scale soda production broken, and the results were not slow to show. Two years later, the first large soda plant was launched in the Northern Urals in Berezniki, built by the merchant Lyubimov together with the Belgian company Solvay. Over the 35 years from the founding of this plant until the Great October Revolution, the Berezniki plant produced 878 thousand g of soda ash.
During the years of Soviet power, the Berezniki plant was reconstructed and expanded, soda production increased several times compared to pre-revolutionary levels. More recently, the soda plant, as in tsarist time, were obtained from natural salt brine pumped from the bowels of the earth. Now it is produced from artificial brine obtained by dissolving waste from potash production. This significantly reduced the cost of soda.
Nowadays, a number of large soda factories operate in the Soviet Union.
The use of soda in the national economy has expanded enormously. Soda is no longer needed only by soap makers, glass makers and textile workers, but also by metallurgists (separation and purification of non-ferrous metals, removal of sulfur from cast iron), dyers, furriers and food processors (manufacturing confectionery And mineral waters, lightening vegetable oils). A lot of soda is used to soften water used in factories and plants, in steam boilers of locomotives and power plants. Soda serves as a raw material for the production of many chemical products (magnesia, sodium sulfate, sodium fluoride, etc.).
If all the table salt processed throughout the world into soda per year was loaded into freight cars, then the train would stretch from Moscow to Vladivostok.
Most of the table salt consumed by the chemical industry is used to produce soda, caustic soda (caustic soda) and chlorine. Back in 1883, Russian scientists Lidov and Tikhomirov developed industrial method producing caustic soda from table salt by electrolysis of its aqueous solutions. In this case, along with caustic soda, chlorine is also produced. Both of these products are very necessary for many sectors of the national economy.
In recent years, salt has not only become a source of chemicals, medicines, fertilizers, and explosives, but has also acquired some new “professions.” It is successfully used to extinguish burning soot and for hardening steel products. It is used to accelerate the melting of ice and to prepare cooling mixtures used in refrigerators. Salt is needed to clarify turpentine and rosin in production premium grades glove husky. In the tobacco industry, some types of tobacco are treated with salt to improve its quality.
When constructing artificial reservoirs, the walls and bottom of the reservoirs are usually protected with clay and lined with concrete or asphalt. However, clay does not completely retain water, and concrete and asphalt are too expensive. It was necessary to find some cheap and at the same time sufficiently waterproof material. Academician A. N. Sokolovsky became interested in this problem several years ago. While studying the properties of soils, he noticed that soil saturated with salt does not allow water to pass through. Salt fills the pores of the soil, making it waterproof. Such soils are called solonchaks; often their surface is covered with a thin snow-white coating of salt.
In the steppes of Kazakhstan and Crimea, in the Caspian and Dnieper regions, small lakes form on salt marshes in early spring, which sometimes do not dry out until the end of summer. Such an artificial “lake” was made in Sokolovsky’s laboratory. Soil was poured onto a thin sieve inserted into a funnel and washed with a solution of table salt; an artificial salt marsh was formed. But in natural conditions The salt marsh is watered by rains and washed by melted spring waters. Therefore, fresh water was poured through the funnel. At first it leaked out quite quickly - about 30-50 drops per minute, but gradually the drops fell less and less, and finally there were none. Water does not seep through a thin layer of soil - only 3-4 mm, which has turned into saline soil.
Therefore, if you cover the walls and bottom of a reservoir with a thin layer of earth soaked in salt, there will be no leakage. The experiments carried out by Sokolovsky on the salinization of irrigation canals in some collective farms in the Volga region turned out to be successful - the leakage of water completely stopped.
Salinization of reservoirs is beginning to be widely used in Ukraine, the Lower Volga region, and Uzbekistan. Salt successfully replaces asphalt and concrete. In addition, treating soils with a salt solution is much cheaper than covering them with asphalt or concrete. After all, for salinization you can take dirty, inedible salt, waste from some chemical plants.
Salt provides invaluable services to builders. For example, in winter, during the construction of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station, the clay soil froze and turned into hard stone. Even excavators and bulldozers could not cope with the frozen soil. The Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute has developed a method to protect clay soil from freezing. Plots of land where ditches or pits need to be dug in winter are thickly sprinkled with table salt in the fall, and then even in the deepest frosts the earth remains soft.
Salt is a substance of inexhaustible possibilities. There are already more than a thousand different ways of using it. And how many of them, and how unexpected, will appear in our atomic age!..
Rock salt is a sedimentary mineral consisting of sodium chloride and impurities. The rock has another name - halite, which is Everyday life known as table salt.
In the conditions of the deposit, it represents stones that, after processing and cleaning, acquire familiar look white powder. The rock is of ancient origin. The ancient Greeks associated its properties with the salty taste of sea water.
Main characteristics
The chemical formula of table salt is NaCl, the compound contains 61% chlorine and 39% sodium.
In its pure form, the substance is very rarely found in natural conditions. In its purified form, rock salt can be clear, opaque, or white with a glassy sheen. Depending on the additional impurities included in the composition, the compound can be colored:
The rock salt is quite brittle, absorbs moisture well and has salty taste. The mineral dissolves quickly in water. The melting point is 800 degrees. During combustion, the flame acquires an orange-yellow hue.
Rock salt appears as a cubic crystal or stalactite with a coarse grain structure.
The formation of halite occurs during the compaction of layers that formed in past geological periods and represents large massifs.
The origin of rock salt is conventionally divided into the following types:
Mineral deposits
Rock salt is a mineral of exogenous origin, deposits of which were formed many millions of years ago in a hot climate. Mineral deposits can form when salt lakes and shallow waters dry out. A small amount of Halite can form during volcanic activity or soil salinization in arid areas as a result of human activity.
When groundwater is close to high content salt can also cause natural salinization of the soil. As moisture evaporates, a thin layer of rock forms on the soil surface.
Areas with high moisture evaporation and low water inflow are characterized by mineralization of the soil layer. With high evaporation, compounds that form in different layers of the soil appear on the surface. When formed on the top layer of soil salt crust the growth of plants and the vital activity of living organisms stops.
Currently, the deposits are located in Russia in the Urals in the Solikamsk and Sol-Iletsk deposits, in Irkutsk, Orenburg, the Arkhangelsk region, the Volga region and the Astrakhan region. In Ukraine, halite mining is carried out in the Donetsk region and Transcarpathia. A significant amount of minerals is mined in Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
Extraction methods
Mineral extraction on an industrial scale is carried out in several ways:
Due to the properties of rock salt, its use is not limited to food consumption. A person cannot do without table salt. Halite is in demand in technological processes in various industries. It is widely used not only in the food industry for preserving meat, fish and vegetables, as it is a cheap preservative.
In the chemical industry, the compound is necessary for the production of hydrochloric acid, which is in demand in various sectors of the economy.
In metallurgy, the mineral is used as a coolant for hardening, as well as for the production of a number of compounds of non-ferrous metals. It is part of the electrolyte.
The pharmaceutical industry uses halite for the manufacture medicines and solutions for injections.
In the tanning industry, the compound is used as a tannin in the processing of animal skins.
Medicinal properties
Sodium compound is part of the body's internal environment, which ensures normal activity circulatory system, conduction of impulses along nerve fibers.
Many nations have a belief that if you sprinkle salt on a cross before entering a house, it will protect you from people with evil thoughts. It was highly appreciated by many peoples; it is no coincidence that spilled salt became a sign of trouble or quarrel. Galite is able to enhance good intentions and return evil ones multiplied several times.
Magicians and sorcerers consider spells for love and good luck using table salt to be effective. A jar of table salt can absorb someone else's negative energy and protect the owner from the evil eye and damage.
Loading...