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| Common Rock Salt |
It is not commonly known that only about 5% of salt produced actually ends up on our dining room tables having the common American consume about two pounds of salt every year. So, what else is salt used for and why do we forget about that other 95%? That 95% is a major part of all salt production and hopefully this post gives you a little insight into how else it is being used. It's interesting to see the various uses of salt but hopefully this will entice you all to look into the products that you use on a daily basis and how they are made.
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| Salt used in producing plastics |
Salt is used for many different reasons which include but are not limited to tanning leather, refining oil, gold, and silver in steel plants, creating bleach, processing foods, manufacturing ice, baking, making soaps, to make synthetic rubber for tires, fish packing, preserving meats, glazing pottery, salting icy roads for safety, bleaching paper for print, adding to water softeners, weed exterminator, fertilizer, textile, and many other chemical processes. Additionally, salt has been used as a sort of antibiotic for bee stings, mosquito bites, poison ivy, and even for the removal of tattoos (as a little precaution, please don't try removing your tattoo at home using table salt--asking a physician would be the way to go for that one!). All of these processes to make various other commodities that we use day in and day out depend on the industry of salt. I personally enjoy having tires on my car and seeing the colorful glazes on pottery but I would have never known how salt has impacted the manufacturing of so many such products. Salt is not only a necessity for all forms of life but it helps to provide many commodities that we have become so accustomed to living with.
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| Salt is used in producing the glaze for pottery |
Most people only know salt in as a spice or as the seasoning that compliments pepper but it is used in so much more than that. So many things that we have around our homes or see on a regular basis are made and produced using that 95% of salt that is not sitting out on our dining room tables. Think of how much we rely on these goods and just humor me in thinking what our lives would be without these materials. Would we have substitutes? How would those substitutes change how we do things? Just thought I'd give you guys a little food for thought!
The little animation below was used by the Leslie Salt Company (check out last weeks blog post!) in a short pamphlet. I found it to humorous with all of the little descriptions of people and thought you all might as well!
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| Leslie Salt Company Illustration of different uses of salt |
I think its great to point out the percentages of what salt is used for. It makes sense that it would be an important industrial product. Its hard to think of it in that sense because we think of it as a condiment more or less. Also the Map illustrating the different uses is an awesome primary source. Do you know if the Oliver's (your project topic) produced salt for consumption or more for industrial use?
ReplyDeleteActually, none of the salt that the Oliver's produced was used as a table salt; most of it was used for manufacturing.
DeleteI had no idea! I knew salt was used in soap and in the "old days" to preserve meat before refrigeration, but I had no idea that 95% is is for so many different things. Great illustration.
ReplyDelete