Halite is the only natural mineral used for food by humans. In everyday life it is usually called “rock salt” or “table salt”. The mineral received its official name in ancient Greece (the word gallos was translated as “sea salt”), where it meant both salt and sea.
Halite: description, properties of the stone
Composition, characteristics and methods of formation of halite
Salty material is formed by precipitation and natural crystallization of so-called natural and natural brines. The solubility of halite is not affected by the surrounding temperatures, which distinguishes this material from other dissolved salts. For this reason, experts classify the mineral as skeletal and dendritic forms.
Halite precipitation occurs in sea bays when water evaporates in the open air. The chemical formula of the mineral is NaCl, but the participation of various impurities in it is also possible – KCl, CaCl2 or MgCl2.
Physical properties of the halite deposit
The usual color for this type of minerals is white or almost completely transparent, with small inclusions of air bubbles. Some impurities can change the color of halite: red – with hematite particles, gray – with the admission of clay, yellow or blue – with metallic sodium.
If you look at a piece of halite from the side, it can cast a faint luster, similar to glass.
As mentioned above, halite is formed on the surface by precipitation in marine lagoons and salt lakes, as well as by evaporation of mineralized waters under the ground. Large deposits of the mineral are also known in Moscow and the surrounding region, in the Donbass, in Perm, in the regions of the Lower Volga region, as well as in Ukraine and Transcarpathia.
The use of halite in human life
Due to its characteristic salty taste, the use of halite has been reliably known since the XNUMXth century. The invaluable value of the mineral for humans is due to its ability to maintain salt balance and metabolism in the body (tissues and cells).
The annual consumption rate of table salt is about 5-6 kilograms annually, which for the entire population of the Earth is about 7 million tons. But if now halite is an easily accessible commodity, then earlier its availability on the market was a powerful tool of state manipulation and pressure. Famous salt riots are known from school and university textbooks, when the cost of a kilogram of salt reached 2 hryvnias.
And in ancient Egypt, for a couple of bricks of halite, one could buy an adult and able-bodied slave
Currently, for the production of stone halite and its successful delivery to store shelves where it can be bought, manufacturing enterprises use modern geotechnologies, which are successfully used in the extraction of other minerals in mineless conditions.