All about salt

2. 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.

4. Salt: A History
• 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.ht

5. Salt: A History
Salt was once
needed as a
preservative to make
food last longer – we
call this increasing
“shelf life”
Image: freedigitalphotos.net

6. Salt: A History
We now have
fridges, freezers
and cans to make
food last a long
time.
Image: Carlos Porto / freedigitalimages.net

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. Activity
Which foods contain added salt?

21. Swap
burger, cheese
sandwich
Crisps
Biscuits
For
Chicken, egg or
tuna sandwich
Plain
popcorn
Dried
Fruits

22. 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

23. 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.