NaCl - SALT...
| SODIUM CHLORINE -
COMMONSALT
The physiological requirement by the human
body is immediate and life sustaining . Without salt any animal including the human animal
would die and the importance of salt to any civilisation may not be underestimated. In
comparison many other everyday uses are today taken for granted. In ancient times, before
any chemical analysis was possible, experience and wisdom, was necessary to discern the
purity of the salt for use with the many every day specific applications. To
sustain a growing population, more salt was required. The fact that salt may have
been available or was relatively easy to produce was a basic condition which allowed
a population to increase and develop. . Where salt was not available..... populations
stagnated and even disintegrated
Rome
did not really fall ... it was moved to Byzantium -Turkey where the salt supply was
relatively available from the Cappadocia region - the Tatta - TUZ GOLU salt lake and the Danube
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Some of the industries allied to the availability of
salt, gave certain populations with enough salt, and a steady reliable supply of salt, the
chance to take enormous leaps into a new world of culture, health, and well being.
HISTORICAL Uses of salt
Country
U.S.A
Germany France
Period
1950
1900
1750
Uses:
Food
700,000 tons 450,000 tons 80,000 tons
Meat
1,000,000 tons
Fish
Livestock
800,000 tons 100,000 tons
Miscellaneous 3,250,000 tons
Leather
250,000 tons 30,000 tons
Soda chlorine 10,000,000 tons
400,000 tons
Overall use
16,000,000 tons 1,200,000 tons 180,000 tons
Inhabitants
180,000,000 60,000,000 tons 25,000,000
tons
Salt used person
88
20
7.2 (kg) per year
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OTHER MAJOR USES of SALT
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MEDICINE
-
Ephesus - Pharmacy shop
Patio process - silver mining
Until the Spanish conquest, and
before 1500, the main uses of salt in Mexico, and mesoamerica, ware physiological, ritual
and as a preservative for fish. These ensured the high living standards of the Maya. The
Spanish took over the numerous salt sources, and in a fell swoop, took control of this
part of the continent. A process developed in Mexico, was the Patio process used
to leach silver from ore, with a sodium solution. This became a major industry, and the
demand for salt became greater. Although some salt had to be imported, the huge capacity
of the local evaporation sources of Yucatan, did keep pace.
Glass
The most important chemical activity was the
making of alkali. When mixed with fat, alkali could be used to make soap, and mixed with
lime and sand could be used to make glass.
Tanning industry
With the advent of an agricultural
society, the provision of meat products with the necessary protein content, had to be
centralised and distribution of a 'safe' to consume meat, ie: dehydrated carcass was
monopolised by those who controlled the salt supplies. This gave rise to a 'tanning'
industry, a direct bye-product, from the 'abattoir'. Hides were a primary commodity, for
everyday products, shoes, clothes, and military protective accoutrements.
Grandmothers's uses
Over the ages, thousands of other
uses seem to have given salt a reputation which in today's environment, and technological
advance, make us smile and which we probably take "with a pinch of....." However
many of these 60 'secrets' were
daily practice. Altogether it's believed there are more than 14,000 uses of salt, and our
grandmothers were probably familiar with most of them. Many of these uses were for simple
things around the home before the advent of modern chemicals and cleaners. However, many
uses are still valid today and a lot cheaper than using more sophisticated products.
End
uses and chemistry of salt
- Nutrient or Flavour
baking, breakfast cereals, butter and cheese, canning, cattle blocks,
flour mixes, heat tablets, isotonic solutions, livestock feeds, oleomargarine, pickles,
potash substitute, salted nuts, table salt, spices and flavouring
Preservative
cheese making, cucumber salting, fish bait curing, fish curing, hay
preserving, hide curing, meat curing, sausage casings
Food Processing Material
blanching seafood & vegetables, chicken de-boning, crabmeat pickling,
egg preservative, fish striking agent, gravity separation, oyster shucking, wine
stabilisation, yeast processing
Chemical Manufacturing
Calcium hypochlorite, Chlorine dioxide, Sodium chlorate, Sodium
fluosilicate, Sodium hypochlorite, Sodium perchlorate
Freezing Point Depressant
coal antifreeze, highway de-icing, ice cream making, ice manufacture, iron
ore antifreeze, refrigerating brines, refrigerating cars
Metallurgical Processing
chloride roasting, drawing lubricant, foam killer, heat treating baths,
iron ore cementation, metallurgical flux, mill scale remover, molten metal cover, rare
metal refining, sink and float baths
Miscellaneous Processing
artificial seawater, coal briquettes, dehydrating agent, dye processing,
dyestuff carrier, electrolytic milling, emulsion breaker, etching aluminium foil,
herbicides, ion exchange regeneration, leather tanning, rubber coagulant, soap salting-out
agent, soil stabiliser, starch manufacture, synthetic leather manufacture, textile dyeing,
tile glazing, water softening, weed killing
, well drilling fluids.
Soda Ash - Na2 CO3
abrasives, adhesives, batteries, ceramics, cleansers, cosmetics,
degreasers, dyes, explosives, fats and oils, fertilisers, fire extinguishers, inhibitors,
insecticides, leather, metal fluxes, ore refining, paint removers, paper, petroleum,
pigments, soap, textiles, water softeners
Sodium - Na
bactericides, case hardening, cosmetics, detergents, dye fixation, dyes,
flour conditioning, fumigation, heat transfer, ore refining, organic synthesis, paints,
pharmaceuticals, photography, pigments, plating salts, pulp bleaching, starch conversion,
tetraethyl lead, textile bleaching, titanium metal, zirconium metal
Sodium Sulphate - Na2 SO4
ceramics, detergents, dyes, explosives, fertilisers, metal fluxes, paper,
pharmaceuticals, photography, pigments, plating salts, rubber, soap, textiles
Hydrogen - H2
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