salt

Introduction
History of use
Occurrence
- Seawater
- Natural brines
- Rock salt
Salt manufacture
- Manufacture from rock salt
- Manufacture from seawater and brines
  - Solar evaporation
  - Use of artificial heat

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Cluster of translucent, white salt crystals with sharp cubic shapes viewed under a microscope at high magnification against a dark background.

A mound of white sea salt drying on dark red clay in the salt marshes of Guerande, Brittany, France, with shallow evaporation ponds in the background.

Weathered wooden pillars encrusted with crystallized salt stand at the edge of Urmia Salt Lake in Iran, with shallow, reflective water and a distant horizon.

Vertical diagram illustrating the Born-Haber cycle for sodium chloride, showing enthalpy changes in kilojoules per mole at each step from solid sodium and chlorine gas to solid NaCl, with labeled energy levels and transitions between reactants, ions, and final compound.

Quizzes

Ceviche. Peruvian ceviche (sebiche). Raw seafood dish with lime, cilantro, peppers, plantains. Cuisine, food

A World of Food Quiz

Chef tossing vegetables in a frying pan over a burner (skillet, food).

What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz

Grains and spices in bags, India. (Indian, vendor, market, food)

Ultimate Foodie Quiz

Related Questions

How are bitterns used to make products such as bromine, potash, and magnesium compounds?
How did partially enclosed ancient seas create very thick beds of rock salt?
How do flake salt crystals form in an open grainer?
How do multiple-effect vacuum evaporators reduce the amount of steam needed to make salt?
How do salt domes form beneath Earth’s surface?
How do sodium and potassium ions help maintain balance inside and outside cells?
How do the dissolved salts in seawater affect its freezing point and boiling point?
How does artificial heat produce evaporated salt from brine?
How does dye help speed up salt production from Dead Sea water?
How does potassium iodide make iodized salt different from ordinary table salt?
How does rock salt form from evaporating seawater?
How does salt loss through perspiration affect the body’s water balance?
How does salt lower the melting point of ice and snow?
How is mined rock salt prepared for sale?
How is salt extracted by solution mining?
How is salt used in water-softening equipment?
How is sodium bicarbonate connected to sodium chloride and baking powder?
In what order do dissolved salts precipitate as seawater evaporates?
What are bitterns after salt has crystallized from brine?
What does the phrase “salt of the earth” mean?
Where are major rock salt deposits found in North America, Europe, and Asia?
Which chemicals can be manufactured from sodium chloride?
Which conditions are needed to produce salt by solar evaporation of seawater?
Which countries were among the largest salt producers in the early 21st century?
Why are anticaking substances added to table salt?
Why are salt evaporation ponds usually shallow and separated by dikes?
Why are settling tanks used before brine enters a salt grainer?
Why can highly salty soil make it difficult for plants to grow?
Why did agricultural societies need salt supplements more often than nomadic groups living on milk and meat?
Why do flake salt crystals stop growing after they sink in brine?
Why do seawater’s density and viscosity increase when salinity increases?
Why do the Dead Sea and Great Salt Lake contain much more dissolved salt than typical seawater?
Why is sodium carbonate used in making glass, detergents, and cleansers?
Why was the Via Salaria important in ancient Roman trade?

Science Chemistry

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External Websites

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service - Citric acid and salts
Cleveland Clinic - Why Too Much Salt Can Be Bad for You
United States Environmental Protection Agency - Sodium Chloride
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - Origin, Classification and Distribution of Salt-Affected Soils
Oregon State University - Linus Pauling Institute - Sodium (Chloride)
Healthline - Sodium Chloride
American Chemical Society - Why Does Water Dissolve Salt?
Harvard Health Publishing - The salts of the earth
Better Health Channel - Salt
National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Sodium Intake and Health: What Should We Recommend Based on the Current Evidence?
ABC listen - Every Bite - Salt Â— The only rock we eat
Chemical Safety Facts - Sodium Chloride
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - The Nutrition Source - Salt and Sodium
Verywell Health - Sodium Chloride: Medical Uses, Side Effects, and More

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

salt - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

salt

sodium chloride

Also known as: common salt, sodium chloride, table salt

Written by

John M. Hills

Emeritus Professor of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso. Author of numerous articles on the petroleum and saline deposits of the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico.

John M. HillsAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 1, 2026 •History

salt (NaCl), mineral substance of great importance to human and animal health, as well as to industry. The mineral form halite, or rock salt, is sometimes called common salt to distinguish it from a class of chemical compounds called salts. Properties of common salt are shown in the properties of salttable. Salt is essential to the health of both people and animals. Table salt, used universally as a seasoning, is fine-grained and of high purity....

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