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It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs as the mineral halite. In its edible form, it is commonly used as a condiment and food preservative. Large quantities of sodium chloride are used in many industrial processes, and it is a major source of sodium and chlorine compounds used as feedstocks for further chemical ...
Rock salt (halite) In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as rock salt or halite.
Halite is also often used both residentially and municipally for managing ice. Because brine (a solution of water and salt) has a lower freezing point than pure water, putting salt or saltwater on ice that is below 0 °C (32 °F) will cause it to melt—this effect is called freezing-point depression .
Pink cubic halite (NaCl; halide class) crystals on a nahcolite matrix (NaHCO 3; a carbonate, and mineral form of sodium bicarbonate, used as baking soda). (from Mineral ) Image 9 Hübnerite , the manganese-rich end-member of the wolframite series, with minor quartz in the background (from Mineral )
Pink cubic halite (NaCl; halide class) crystals on a nahcolite matrix (NaHCO 3; a carbonate, and mineral form of sodium bicarbonate, used as baking soda). The halide minerals are compounds in which a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, iodine, or bromine) is the main anion. These minerals tend to be soft, weak, brittle, and water-soluble.
Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na 2 CO 3 ·NaHCO 3 ·2H 2 O) is a non-marine evaporite mineral. [4] [6] It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced the Solvay process used in most of the rest of the world for sodium carbonate production.
Salt comes from two main sources: sea water, and the sodium chloride mineral halite (also known as rock salt). Rock salt occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas. Salt beds may be up to 350 metres (1,150 ft) thick and underlie broad areas.
The mineral natron is often found in association with thermonatrite, nahcolite, trona, halite, mirabilite, gaylussite, gypsum, and calcite. Most industrially produced sodium carbonate is soda ash (sodium carbonate anhydrate Na 2 CO 3 ) which is obtained by calcination (dry heating at temperatures of 150 to 200 °C) of sodium bicarbonate, sodium ...