S A L T Sodium chloride

(NaCl)

Sodium chloride also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, it is an ionic compound with the formula (NaCl), it represents equal proportions of sodium and chloride. A salt is a compound, a substance made up of two or more elements that have chemically joined or bonded.

What is sodium chloride?

• The word salt comes from the word ‘salarium’ in latin (salary)

• This is because roman soldiers used to be partly paid in salt

Image: FSA http://tna.europarchive.org/20090810121540/salt.gov.uk/hidden_salt.html

Salt: A History

Salt: A HistorySalt was once needed as a preservative to make food last longer – we call this increasing “shelf life”

Image: freedigitalphotos.net

Salt: A HistoryWe now have fridges, freezers and cans to make food last a long time.

Image: Carlos Porto / freedigitalimages.net

Color Salts can appear to be clear and transparent.Taste Different salts can elicit all five basic tastes, salty, sweet, sour,

bitter, and umami or savory.Odor Odorless.Melting Point/Boiling Point The melting point of sodium chloride is 801 degree Celsius or

1074 degree Kelvin. Its boiling point is 1465 degree Celsius or 1738 degree Kelvin.

Properties of salt

Only those ions joined by lines are actually touching each other. The sodium ion in the centre is being touched by 6 chloride ions. By chance we might just as well have centered the diagram around a chloride ion, would be touched by 6 sodium ions. Sodium chloride is described as being 6:6-co-ordinated.

Salt structure

Sodium is needed to maintain proper water balance in your body. It also contributes to the process which supports acid / base balance in your blood. In order to function properly, the stomach, muscles and nerves require sodium.

Why is salt so important ?

The amount of salt you eat has a direct effect on your blood pressure. Salt makes your body hold on to water. But if you eat too much salt, the extra water stored in your body raises your blood pressure. So, the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure. The higher your blood pressure, the greater the strain on your heart, arteries, kidneys and brain. This can lead to heart attacks, strokes, dementia and kidney disease.

Why is too much salt bad for you?

How much?Age Maximum salt intake

0-6 months Less than 1 gram

7-12 months 1 gram

1-3 years 2 gram

4-6 years 3 gram

7-10 years 5 gram

11-14 years 6 gram

Adults 6 gram

Activity

Which foods contain added salt?

burger, cheese sandwich

Chicken, egg or tuna sandwich

Crisps Plain popcorn

Biscuits Dried Fruits

Swap For

Simple Swaps

1. Sprinkle salt on your shelves to keep ants away.2. Test the freshness of eggs in a cup of salt water; fresh eggs sink;

bad ones float.3. Add a little salt to the water your cut flowers will stand in for a longer

life.4. Pour a mound of salt on an ink spot on your carpet; let the salt soak

up the stain.5. Use salt for killing weeds in your lawn.6. Freshening sponges by soaking them in salt water.7. Salt and soda will sweeten the odor of your refrigerator.8. Sprinkle salt between sidewalk bricks where you don’t want grass

growing.9. Cooking

Some ways for using salt

Never, salt is the most common and readily available nonmetallic mineral in the world; it is so abundant, accurate estimates of salt reserves are unavailable. In the United States there are an estimated 55 trillion metric tons. And some of that usage is naturally recycled after use. The enormity of the Earth’s underground salt deposits, combined with the saline vastness of the Earth’s oceans makes the supply of salt inexhaustible.

Will we run out of salt?