Salt is the only natural mineral consumed by humans. Sodium chloride (salt) is found in seawater, the main source of salt on the planet. Since ancient times, people have appreciated the beneficial properties of this mineral and learned how to extract it.
It is necessary
- - salted cucumbers;
- - water;
- - sea water;
- - peat from the sea coast;
- - wooden sticks.
Instructions
Step 1
Use one of the ancient ways to obtain salt from sea water. Find a place on the coast where water only reaches for a short time, and for most of the season currents and winds leave this piece of coast without water. Fence a small pool with stones, bonded with clay, or boards to prevent the water from escaping, wait for the water to evaporate and collect the salt from the bottom of the pool.
Step 2
Try another ancient way of making salt. If there are peat deposits on the coast, as on the Baltic Sea coast, the salt can be “burned out” from peat lumps soaked in sea water. Wait for bad weather, when the storm drives the water to the peat bogs, then when the water leaves, dig up the peat, burn it, carefully collect the ash and pour it into the water, evaporate the resulting solution.
Step 3
Use a similar method: soak wooden sticks with sea water, stick the sticks near the shore, let them soak in water, then dry the sticks in the sun, burn them on a fire, carefully collect the ash, dissolve in water, evaporate the solution.
Step 4
Purify the resulting salt: dissolve it in fresh water and evaporate the brine. In laboratories, a method is also used to saturate a strong salt solution with hydrogen chloride, while the salt is purified from impurities of sulfuric acid salts and from potassium chloride and precipitated. To obtain cubic crystals of anhydrous salt, collect the precipitate, ignite, dissolve in fresh water and evaporate.
