Salt, NaCl, Sodium Chloride.

[hallenrm]

Talking of history and Salt. This common substance had a role to play in the Freedom movement of India, led by Mahatma Gandhi about 75 years ago.

The Colonial masters (read British Empire) had imposed a tax on extracting salt from seawater. Mahatma Gandhi led a group of citizens in protest, in what is now popularly known as the Dandi March or Salt satyagraha that is protest for the truth.

The Salt Satyagraha, also known as the Salt March to Dandi, was an act of protest against the British salt tax in Colonial India. Mahatma Gandhi walked from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat to get himself some salt, and hordes of Indians followed him. The British could do nothing because Gandhi did not incite others to follow him in any way. The march lasted from March 12 to April 6, 1930.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by hallenrm

Talking of history and Salt. This common substance had a role to play in the Freedom movement of India, led by Mahatma Gandhi about 75 years ago.

The Colonial masters (read British Empire) had imposed a tax on extracting salt from seawater. Mahatma Gandhi led a group of citizens in protest, in what is now popularly known as the Dandi March or Salt satyagraha that is protest for the truth.

Thank you I did't know that!
Salt gets arround doesn't it?

You have inspired me!
I am googling "salt in history"
http://www.mortonsalt.com/consumer/about_us/history/
(i need my pills)

Salt Through the Ages

The first written reference to salt is found in the Book of Job, recorded about 2,250 BC.
There are 31 other references to salt in the Bible, the most familiar probably being the story of Lot’s wife who was turned into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed the angels and looked back at the wicked city of Sodom.

From ancient times to the present, the importance of salt to humans and animals has been recognized.
Thousands of years ago, animals created paths to salt licks, and men followed seeking game and salt.
Their trails became roads and beside the roads; settlements grew.
These settlements became cities and nations.

Ancient Britons carried their crude salt by pack train from Cheshire to Southern England where they often were forced to delay their journey until the high tides of the Thames River subsided.
A village known as Westminster grew up there and Westminster became London.

The purifying quality of salt has made it a part of the rituals in some religious ceremonies.

“He is not worth his salt”, is a common expression. It originated in ancient Greece where salt was traded for slaves..

The early Greeks worshipped salt no less than the sun, and had a saying that “no one should trust a man without first eating a peck of salt with him”
(the moral being that by the time one had shared a peck of salt with another person, they would no longer be strangers).

The widespread superstition that spilling salt brings bad luck is believed to have originated with the overturned salt cellar in front of Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper, an incident immortalized in Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting.

Poor old Judas, I do feel sorry for this foundation stone of Christianity, bad PR again.

[Chacmool]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

One interesting thing is that Ayurveda recognizes its water retaining as well as weight loss qualities. It also states that the long term effect of salt is actually Sweet!!!

This is very interesting. Sometimes I find myself craving sugar, only to discover that I am actually craving salt. I wonder what causes this confusion?

Anyway, I have now acquired Atlantic sea salt, which I'll use instead of ordinary table salt. I'll report on any effects.

[Chemnut]

Originally Posted by Chacmool

This is very interesting. Sometimes I find myself craving sugar, only to discover that I am actually craving salt. I wonder what causes this confusion?

I would bet that your body is drained of energy during these cravings. Sugars provide energy, but without electroylytes (salts), nothing works. Nutrients are not transferred without the electrolyte. Your mind craves things that give you energy.

[Chemnut]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

I am very interested in salt......
How can we get it out of water to make drinkable water?
Why is it so hard?. What chemistry is making it difficult?
This is the blue planet. Why can't we drink it? ........
How can we restore salt degraded land? A big, big, big problem in Australia .
Salinity is the bigest environmental problem facing Australia, and scientists are struggling to find ways to solve it. But maybe they’re just not thinking far enough outside the square. Why not remove the salt from the ground and sell it to yuppies to sprinkle on their dinner?....

It is not that difficult to remove salt from water (distillation or evaporation). It is generally too expensive to do so. The salt, over time, corrodes and eats away at most epuipment resulting in a very high maintenance cost. Some of the reasons for not separating the salt from the water are: 1) Salt deposits of good purity and inexpensive to mine and process are available in many places around the world. 2) Water is generally prevalent enough and inexpensive enough, that desalination is not cost justified.

Salt is quite often gathered or concentrated in huge evaporation ponds. The time it takes to remove water from salt increases as the concentration of the salt increases. This process takes large areas of land. Where you have plenty of saltwater, the land in the area is generally at a premium. Where land is cheap and nearly worthless, there is quite often, not enough heat to do evaporation ponds or not enough water.

As far as removing the salt or salinity of the soil goes, Can one make a profit from this or does it cost more than will be generated from the process.
Amendments to the soil will help, but it takes a cost prohibitive amount to change the pH enough. I would stay away from any Chloride compounds. Chloride ion is a biological killer or an organic terminator. I would use substances that would break down to Oxygen and create an acid when water is added. Fertilizers with Nitrates, Phosphates, Sulphates and Oxides do this.
Nitrogen and oxygen are life givers.

I live in an area that has very alkaline soil. This ties up the iron (Fe) in the soil and then the plants turn yellow and look sick. Adding iron helps but not enough. Manure helps considerably as it break down into nitrates.

Has anyone checked out various Salt company websites for information?

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Chemnut

It is not that difficult to remove salt from water (distillation or evaporation). It is generally too expensive to do so.

Doing it cheaply is what i am interested in.

I am looking at innovative, cheap, portable, solar design.
I have some ideas but need to build a protype.

How does salt water pool chlorinater work?

Originally Posted by Chemnut

As far as removing the salt or salinity of the soil goes, Can one make a profit from this or does it cost more than will be generated from the process.
Amendments to the soil will help, but it takes a cost prohibitive amount to change the pH enough. I would stay away from any Chloride compounds. Chloride ion is a biological killer or an organic terminator. I would use substances that would break down to Oxygen and create an acid when water is added. Fertilizers with Nitrates, Phosphates, Sulphates and Oxides do this.
Nitrogen and oxygen are life givers.

What about chlorine in tap water; will this kill soil micro-organisms?

Originally Posted by Chemnut

I live in an area that has very alkaline soil. This ties up the iron (Fe) in the soil and then the plants turn yellow and look sick. Adding iron helps but not enough. Manure helps considerably as it break down into nitrates.

So do I; Ph of 9.
I am tyring amendments but doing most of my gardening in pots
.
I am interested in charcoal's effect on soil PH (see "Tera preta" thread)

Originally Posted by Chemnut

Has anyone checked out various Salt company websites for information?

Some, but there is still a lot out there!

[Chemnut]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Doing it cheaply is what i am interested in.

I am looking at innovative, cheap, portable, solar design.
I have some ideas but need to build a protype.

A very simple, inexpensive, crude survival distillation apparatus will work. Place a large plastic bag, preferably clear, over a plant. Channel the opening of the bag into a collection container like a jar or plastic bottle.The sun will heat the ground, and the plant. Heat rises and the plants transpire or sweat moisture. The moisture is rises from the plant and encounters the plastic barrier. A convection current will be set up. What goes up must come down. The surface of the plastic bag will be cooler due to air moving around the bag. Therefore the water will condense on the inside of the bag and eventually run into your collection container.

In cooler climates this works well to give fairly pure water. In hot climates like the desert I live in, this also brings out the water soluble or emulsified oils in the plant. These generally give a strong smell and bitter taste and this water has to be redistilled or cleaned through filtering and ion exchange. This may also kill the plant if the bag is left on too long.

Another type of distillation apparatus I have been thinking about that can be placed most anywhere and scaled up as large as you want to make it, works better the hotter the temperature.

Take a large diameter plastic pipe (say about 8 inch) and cut it in half (split lengthwise) so you have two half circles. These will be the purified water collection vessels. Take another large diameter plastic pipe (12 to 24 inch and split it lenghtwise. One half of this pipe will be used for the salty, dirty supply water. Lay the cut pipes side by side so that you have the largest diameter pipe in the middle and the 2 smaller ones on each side of the larger diameter pipe. Leave a little separation between the pipes. Build a transparent canopy over the pipes. Connect the edges of the canopy to the outside edges of the smaller diameter pipes. The canopy may be a half circle or triangular shaped like the top of a green house. One end of the smaller pipes will need to be elevated slightly so water will collect at one end. Fill the center large diameter pipe with dirty or salty water. This will work similar to the plastic bag and will yield fairly pure water. The hotter the temperature, the better this will work.

[Chemnut]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

What about chlorine in tap water; will this kill soil micro-organisms?

This depends on how much chlorine is in the water. Some large cities tap water has so much chlorine that it will definitely kill the micro-organisms as well as the plant. Plants will tolerate a small amount. The more sensitive (tropical low sun) plants will not tolerate as much chlorine as many cities have in their tap water.

[Chacmool]

Originally Posted by Chemnut

I would bet that your body is drained of energy during these cravings. Sugars provide energy, but without electroylytes (salts), nothing works. Nutrients are not transferred without the electrolyte. Your mind craves things that give you energy.

Right on the dot! I suffer from severe chronic fatigue. This makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Chemnut

A very simple, inexpensive, crude survival distillation apparatus will work.
This will work similar to the plastic bag and will yield fairly pure water. The hotter the temperature, the better this will work.

Survival shows in Australia often mention this tree-water-harvesting system We still loose people in the deserts though (not many trees?).
Australia is the driest continent on earth and we haven't realised that yet

My design is similar but uses only one piece of pipe with channel for dirty/sea water in the middle. I need to try a proto-type, Buy some pipes and muck around with them
Thanks for your help.