Salt, NaCl, Sodium Chloride. - 05-07-2006, 09:18 AM
I am very interested in salt.

How can we get it out of water to make drinkable water?
Why is it so hard?. What chemistry is making it difficult?
This is the blue planet. Why can't we drink it?

My swimming pool chlorinator does something to salt. What?
How does that work? Why can't that work to provide drinkable water?

How can we restore salt degraded land? A big, big, big problem in Australia .
(We are having a very bad drought because of Mr and Mrs Nino (El
Nino-Southern Oscillation)

What plants are salt tolerant?

Who should be eating it?

What is the best type to use?
Should we always use iodised salt?
Are Yuppie salts worth the money?

When is it necessary?
(i.e., "salts" with children's diarrhoea?)
When is it a problem?
(i.e., High blood pressure?)


A picture of salt:
http://www.rkm.com.au/SALT/SALT-sodium-chloride.html

What in it? ( sea salt OZ style)
http://www.aquamaid.com.au/salt.html
Chemical Profile:
Specification Typical Levels
Purity (%NaCL min dry basis) 99.4% 99.6%
Moisture (% max) 2.5% 1.90%
Insolubles (% max) 0.03% 0.01%
Magnesium (mg/kg max) 500 80
Calcium (mg/kg max) 1000 400
Sulphate (mg/kg max) 2500 1200
Iron (mg/kg max) 2 1
Copper (mg/kg max) 1 <1

and
http://www.cea-life.com/minerals_health/seasalt.htm
Salt From the Sea

Most of the salt that is marketed to the processed food industry, or
sold by grocery and health food retailers is sold as sea salt. The
fact is that all salt originally came from the sea.

Rock salt in mines is also sea salt that has gathered as deposits on
ancient, dried seabeds. Altered and transported through time by
unknown geological processes, this type of salt has not seen the sea
for millions of years.

The issue is one of terminology. In most instances, sodium chloride
(NaCl) is the product commonly referred to as 'salt'. However, sea
salt is a far more complex salt than NaCl. To avoid what is quite
obviously misleading labelling, common salt should be marketed as
'sodium chloride, extracted from sea salt'.

Of course there are other forms of processed crystal salts extracted
from the sea that retain far more of the constituent elements of
original sea salt. 'Celtic sea salt' is one of these. Celtic sea salt
comes in many forms and is characterised by grain size, colour and
dampness. The whiter and drier the salt the more it has been washed
and 'purified'.

One of the concerns regarding Celtic and other 'natural' sea salt is
the purity of the source sea water. Contamination occurs during the
drying process (often outdoors), in addition to the alteration and
loss of constituents by 'natural' and process washing of the salt
stockpile. Much of the Celtic salt produced comes from Brittany in
north-western France. Northern Europe is one of the most densely
populated regions on our planet (refer: Pollution of the marine
environment, NASA night map).

Consequently the waters off Brittany, which flow directly out of the
English Channel, contain high levels of pollution. An alarming report
issued recently notes detectable levels of pharmaceuticals passing
through the population and into the waterways.


Salt is no good for you????
http://www.hunzacrystalsalt.net/Salt.../salt_iii.html

"Arthritis, Kidney & Gall Stones and Cellulite Caused By Common Salt

Eating common table salt results in the formation of edema, or excess
fluid in the body tissue, which is also the cause of cellulite. That's
why doctors tell us to avoid salt. For every gram of sodium chloride
that the body cannot get rid of, the body uses twenty-three times the
amount of cell water to neutralize the salt. If the sodium chloride is
still too high, the body recrystalizes the table salt by using
available animal proteins, which also cannot be broken down and
eliminated. The body uses these proteins to produce uric acid in order
to get rid of the excess salt. As the body cannot dispose of uric
acid, it binds itself with the sodium chloride to form new crystals
that are deposited directly in the bones and joints. This is the cause
of different kinds of rheumatisms such as arthritis, gout, and kidney
and gall bladder stones. The recrystalizing is the body's band-aid
solution for the cells and organs in order to protect the body from
irreparable damage of irresponsible food intake. But in the long run,
it poisons the system because those substances cannot be disposed of.


Soil salinity
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s914495.htm
Salt Man
Researcher: Owen Craig
Transcript
Related Info
Salinity is the bigest environmental problem facing Australia, and
scientists are struggling to find ways to solve it. But maybe they're
just not thinking far enough outside the square. Why not remove the
salt from the ground and sell it to yuppies to sprinkle on their
dinner? It may sound like a joke but Duncan Thomson is actually doing
it. He is also extracting other valuable chemicals from our salty land
and selling them, from fertilisers to road-building materials. He says
he's turning salinity from a negative into a positive.
--



From a body builder's page http://www.muscle-fitness.com.au/347.html

You're probably already overdoing the sodium. The typical Westerner
gets about 5,000-7,000 mg of sodium per day, although adults may need
only 500 mg. No Recommended Dietary Allowance for sodium has been set
in the U.S.A., but the Daily Value (used in food labelling) for sodium
has been set rather diplomatically at 1,400 mg per day. This isn't a
requirement so much as an attempt to keep dietary levels within reason
- so we don't devour this week's ration of daily values all in just
one day.

The Sodium System: Last-Minute Strategies
While sodium is an essential nutrient, too much of it attracts a layer
of water under your skin that looks like a layer of bodyfat.
Obviously, that's not good for your six-pack or, for that matter, the
lines of your thighs, even if your bodyfat is already low

Strategy 5: Switch to Potassium Chloride
If you like to sprinkle salt on your food and use it in baking, try
potassium chloride (KCl) instead of table salt (sodium chloride, NaCl)
for a day or two before your big day. Because potassium doesn't get
under your skin the way sodium does, it doesn't cause a "bloat" effect
or a loss of muscular definition.
In addition, potassium chloride tastes the same as table salt and
works just as well in bread or any other type of baking - low-sodium
diets don't have to be bland. Replacing table salt with potassium
chloride is otherwise a no-brainer in light of the fact that most
people get too much sodium and too little potassium, which is very
much the reverse of the diet humanity evolved on.
Interestingly, potassium has a muscle-cell volumising effect along the
same lines as creatine or glutamine. This may be part of the reason
many bodybuilders switch to potassium before bodybuilding contests. To
be on the safe side, don't go over 4 grams (4,000 mg) of extra
potassium per day. Also, check with your doctor before taking
potassium if you're on heart medication; he or she will know how
potassium interacts with your prescription.

m From Kaz Cooke's, "The Little Book of Excuses," Penguin, 03.:-
"There's a huge wad of lime-green bubblegum stuck in my pubic hair ."