[neilep (OP)]

Hmm..should this be in Chemistry ?


Dear Saltologists ?

Rock salt is great !!..here's some !

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Nice eh ?


How different is it from regular table salt ?...sea salt ?

How does it come to be the way it is ?.

Is it more/less salty than other salts ?


Sort your answers for me will ya ?

[JimBob]

It isn't different form table salt - 99% of table salt is mined from the grougn. Sea Salt is what is left over after sea water is left to evaporate. This was in the past a major source of salt.

But when you get right down to it - all table salt is sea salt. Rock salt is just very old sea salt. It was deposited long, long ago in a galaxy ... no, wrong movie ...  long, long ago in a drying sea bottom here on earth. In some areas it can be 1000's of feet thick.

It is all the same thing. Mostly NaCl, with KCl and a few other minor constituents in for good measure. (NaCl - sodium chloride, KCl - potassium chloride)

[neilep (OP)]

THANK EWE JIMBOB !!

So, except for provenance....all salt is essentially the same !!

so, if I find what I believe to be rare salt...there's no point in my taking it to be valued......?.....

It's just that I found a salt sachet thingy that came with some fries I bought about three years ago and cos it's so old I thought it might be worth something !!  *getting angry now* ...RIGHT !!!!...that's my future plans all null and voided then *getting angrier*......I'm going to rub the end of my finger until it's sore and then rub this blimmin salt in it !!...that'll teach em !!!






OUCH !!!

[Karen W.]

Hey Neily what are the pretty orange yellowish stone are they salt also.. Those are beautiful! Have they been turned into rock salt accent lights? I want some those are purty!

[daveshorts]

And at some point almost all rock salt will have been in the sea. Most rock salt deposits come from ancient salt pans - flat coastal (of seas or lakes) areas in very hot places where there is a lot of evaporation and so the salt is crystalising constantly. These are later buried, and then we mine them either physically or by pumping hot water into the ground and dissolving it out.

[kdlynn]

rock salt also makes the sidewalks all not slippery which is nice

[Karen W.]

Yepperoo it sure do, and helps make
good ice cream for you too!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

how does it help you make good ice cream?...

[Bass]

Welcome to the forum, Sarah Elizabeth!

Rocks salt depresses the freezing point of water, so adding rock salt to the ice around the ice cream churn allows it to stay colder.

[JimBob]

It increases the evaporation of ice in the container around the ice cream churn thus producing a lower temperature that helps freeze the ice cream.

Below is an ice cream maker - the old style with a hand crank and made out of wood - which is actually better than the plastic or metal ones as the water does get out of the chamber allowing more ice to be put in. Salt is put on the ice so it will melt faster and get the water cooler.




BUT turning the crank - a job that was always mine when I was a kid gets old very quickly. In the 60's they came out with a churn that had an electric motor on the top and no one had to turn the crank. I like that type better.

[Karen W.]

Me too! Mine is Electric!