Salt

   

For other meanings of the word salt see salt (disambiguation)

In chemistry, a salt is a composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, so that the product is neutral and without a net charge.

They are typically the product of a chemical reaction between:

  • an acid forming oxide and a base forming oxide, forming a salt, e.g. CO2 + CaO --> CaCO3 calcium carbonate

In everyday life the word salt refers to table salt (sodium chloride).

However, many other salts are poisonous, so care must be taken to not confuse them with NaCl(table salt).

In general, salts are ionic compounds which form crystals. They are often soluble in water, where the two ions separate. Salts typically have a high melting point, low hardness, and low compressibility. If molten or dissolved in water, they conduct electricity.

Salts are named according to their constituent ions. The cationic components, often metal ions or ammonium, are given first, followed by the anionic components. Anions are often named according to the their conjugate acid:

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History

Salt was, until the 1900's, one of the prime movers of national economies and wars. Salt has played a prominent role in determing the power and location of the world's great cities. Timbuktu was once a huge salt market. Liverpool rose from just a port to Ireland to become the prime producer of the world's salt in the 1800's. Salt created and destroyed empires. The salt mines of Poland led to a vast kingdom in the 1500's, only to be destroyed when Germans brought sea salt (often, to most of the world, considered 'superior' to rock salt). Venice fought a war with Genova over salt, resulting in Venice the victor. Genova had the last laugh, for Christopher Columbus and Giovanni Caboto came from there and destroyed the Mediterranean trade by introducing the new world to the market.

When humans first became farmers instead of hunters, they lost meat, which was the main supply of salt. This common need for salt led to uprisings and revolts. In fact, it has often been attributed to whether salt was taxed or not whether the people where happy. Rome had a policy to not tax salt, while the often changing Chinese Dynasties rose or fell depending on their tax policy.

The salt trade was based on one fact — it is more profitable to sell salted foodstuffs than to sell just salt. Thus sources of food to salt went hand in hand with salt making. Before the salt mines of Liverpool where discovered, a huge trade in British fish for French salt existed. This was not a happy accord, for each nation did not want to be dependent on each other. The search for fish and salt led to the Seven Years War between the two. With the British in control of saltworks in the Bahamas and North American cod, their sphere of influence quickly covered the world.

The search for oil in the late 1800's and early 1900's used the technology and methods pioneered by salt miners, even to the degree that they looked where salt domes were for oil.

Luckly for us, modern geology has led to the discovery of salt's appearance everywhere. Now 51% of salt is used for deicing roads.

Salt was such a valuable commodity in ancient times that soldiers often had their wages paid in salt, hence the term 'salary'.

References

Salt, a World History, by Mark Kurlansky. Penguin Books, New York, New York 2002

See also

External link

ca:Sal da:Salt de:Salze eo:Salo es:sal fr:sel nl:zouten nds:Solt pl:Sól pt:sal sv:Salt simple:Salt


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