The Uses of Salt

The Uses of Salt

Mineral halite, best known as common salt, has been one of the most abundant and used minerals over the centuries. It is essential for the human diet and is an important commercial chemical. Pure salt consists of two elements, which are sodium and chlorine [chloride]. Its chemical name is sodium chloride (NaCl). “In chemistry, common salt is one of a large number of electrolytic compounds classified as salts. The compound occurs as a mineral in the form of crystals and the forms of the crystals are generally cubic and are transparent.” (Encyclopedia Americana 163)

Halite (sodium chloride) comes from the Greek “halos”, meaning salt and “lithos” meaning rock, and is better known as “rock salt”. Salt is produced by the evaporation of seawater, but the greatest proportion of salt produced is derived from rock salt and salt domes. Two ways to obtain these rocks are by mining techniques or by “solution mining, in which fresh water is pumped down into the dome and the dissolved salt solution pumped back up to the surface recovery.” (The Encyclopedia Americana 164)

Salt plays many important roles in the human body system. Each human being needs approximately from four to eight ounces of salt. If this amount is not consumed or gained in some way, the human being could experience muscle cramps, exhaustion, convulsions, dizziness, and even, death in sever deficiency. Also, the digestion of food in the human body needs salt in order to function corre...