What is Common Salt?

Salt, also known as NaCl, is very important for both humans and animals, as well as for various industries. The mineral form of salt is called halite, or rock salt, and it's often referred to as common salt. This helps to tell it apart from other types of chemical compounds known as salts.

What is Common Salt?

Common salt, also known as table salt, is scientifically called sodium chloride (NaCl). It's a crucial part of our diet. Chemically, it's made when sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid react together.

Sources of Sodium Chloride

• Sea Water: The main source of sodium chloride. It's dissolved in sea water along with other salts like calcium and magnesium chlorides and sulphates.
• Rock Salt: Found in deposits around the world, rock salt is another source. Pure rock salt is white and crystalline, but it can be brown due to impurities.

Making Sodium Chloride

In a lab, sodium chloride can be made by combining sodium hydroxide with hydrochloric acid. The resulting solution can be evaporated to get solid sodium chloride. However, this method isn't used on a large scale because sodium chloride is naturally abundant.

Also Check: Baking Soda | Epsom salt | Glucose | Amino Acids

Related Links: Periodic Table Element | Metal | Electogravity

Uses of Common Salt (Sodium Chloride)

Here are some important uses of common salt:

1. Raw Material for Chemicals: Common salt is used to make many useful chemicals like:

   • Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda)
   • Sodium carbonate (washing soda)
   • Sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda)
   • Hydrochloric acid
   • Hydrogen
   • Chlorine
   • Sodium metal

2. Cooking: Common salt is used in cooking to improve the flavor of food. Our bodies need sodium chloride for:

   • Nervous system function
   • Muscle movement
   • Producing hydrochloric acid in the stomach for digestion

3. Leather Industry: It's used in tanning leather.

4. De-icing Roads: Rock salt is spread on icy roads to melt the ice in cold weather.

5. Agriculture: It is used as a fertilizer for sugar beet crops.

Common Salt as a Raw Material for Chemicals

Sodium chloride is important for making various chemicals. Here are a few examples:

• Hydrochloric Acid 
• Washing Soda
• Baking Soda

When a strong salt solution (brine) undergoes electrolysis, it produces sodium hydroxide, chlorine, and hydrogen.

Making Chemicals from Common Salt

Now, let’s look at how some important chemicals are made from common salt:

• Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda)
• Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda)
• Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate (Baking Soda)