Salt

__**Whats it called?**__ Sodium Chloride is the scientific name for what we know as common table salt or just salt. It can also be called halite.

__**Chemical compound**__ The chemical formula for salt or sodium chloride is NaCl. 1 atom of Sodium and 1 atom of Chlorine.

__**What is sodium chloride?**__ Sodium chloride is an ionic compound made up of positively charged sodium and negatively charged chloride that is naturally found. Sodium makes up 39.337%, and chloride makes up 60.663% of sodium chloride. The atomic weight of sodium is 22.989768, while the atomic weight of chloride is 35.4527. In one gram of sodium chloride there is approximately 0.3933 grams of sodium and 0.6067 grams of chlorine.


 * __Color-__** The color of salt varies from colorless, white, gray and brown.

__**Properties**__ Soluble in water but not so much in other substances. Odorless but has a characteristic taste. Melting point is 800.8 degrees Celsius. Boiling point is 1,465 degrees Celsius. Ph is neutral. Salt has an octahedral structure which means that its crystals or grains are a octagonal polyhedron. 1 mole of NaCl would only be 58.4 grams/mole, which would equal about 14 teaspoons of salt.


 * __Where can salt deposits be found?__**
 * New York
 * Michigan
 * Ohio
 * Kansas
 * Texas
 * Louisiana
 * Great Britain
 * France
 * Germany
 * Russia
 * China
 * India

__**Ways to Get Salt-**__ //Room and Pillar-// Miners drill and blast to break up the salt. Then the salt is brought to the surface. When they are done mining there are empty rooms left over which are supported by pillars //Solution-// Water is added to form brine (a solution of water and salt). Two pipes are inserted into the well and fresh water is pumped in through the smaller one while the brine is pumped back out through the bigger of the two pipes.

__**Preparation Involved**__- The brine is evaporated many times to get rid of the water so that all that's left is the salt.

__**Importance**__ Essential part of life because is provides important chemicals to aid in digestion by giving chlorine and hydrochloric acid. Also plays a role in food by: Just about every food has salt either in it or salt is use for seasoning. When used in large amounts we can dissolve ice and snow on roads and highways.
 * seasoning food
 * curing meats
 * preserving fish and other food items

__**Production Sites-**__ Some places that major salt manufacturing can be found is in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Western Europe, and Japan. In 2002 it was estimated that world production sites produced 210 million tonnes of salt were produced around the world.

What do we use salt for? We all know that you can use salt for cooking and for spicing up your food. It has many other uses though. It is used in the paper making process to produce pulp to make the paper and for setting dyes in papers and fabrics. it is also used to produce soaps and detergents. it is also used to clear the roads of ice in the winter, but this type of "road salt" loses that ability to melt at temperatures lower than -15 degrees Celsius or 5 degrees F.

__**Other known facts**__ Salt makes up 80% of the material dissolved in seawater. Mineral halite is the pure form of salt. Most salt used for table salt is obtained by seawater. Was used in the preservation of mummies in Egypt. Although salt is an essential part of life, it is not good to have more than 6 grams of salt a day.

-People used to think that salt was used for powerful magic. -Japanese theaters used to spread salt on the stage so evil spirits couldn't ruin the play. -Instead of throwing confetti on newlyweds people used to throw salt and give bread. -In Arab countries giving salt was a sign of sealing a bargain and friendship. -Spilling salt was said to be bad luck, but it was also said that throwing salt over you left shoulder would cancel the bad luck. -Too much of a concentration of salt can kill salt-water fish. -The human body cannot exist without salt. If every particle of salt was taken from our bodies we would only live for 48 hours. -Ancient history shows that common table salt was once used as a form of money.
 * __Crazy but interesting thing about salt-__**

__**Work Cited**__ http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0861163.html http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0861162.html http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0861164.html http://science.jrank.org/pages/6237/Sodium-Chloride-Mining.html http://www.sriconsulting.com/CEH/Public/Reports/770.8000/ http://www.saltinstitute.org/15.html http://www.saltinfo.com/salt%20surprises.htm http://www.launc.tased.edu.au/online/sciences/PhysSci/pschem/reactqty/Mole.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chloride