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A
rock we eat !
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If someone at the dinner table said,"Pass
the rocks, please," what would you
give him?
Salt of course!
The salt we use to make food taste better
is a mineral called halite. Big lumps of
halite are found in the earth's crust.
The halite is dug out in chunks and
crushed up small enough to fit through
the holes in a saltshaker. Halite forms
in square crystals. No matter how small
it is crushed, it nearly always breaks
into the shape of a cube!
Sometimes, a hole is dug down to salt
that is in the earth. Water is forced
down into the salt, then pumped back up
with salt in it. The water is then heated.
When it dries up, crystals of pure salt
are left. Salt is removed from seawater
in much the same way.
In ancient times, salt was so precious
and hard to get that it was used as money!
The soldiers of ancient Rome were given
salt as part of their pay. This part of
their pay was called the salarium. Our
word salary, which is another word for
pay, comes from the Latin word salarium.
A man who was not a very good soldier was
"not worth his salt." We still
say this today about people who don't do
a good job for the money they are paid.
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