Salt

Chemists define the mineral halite, or common table salt, as sodium chloride (NaCl). The combination of sodium, an unstable metal that burns when wet, and chloride, a derivative of the poisonous gas chlorine, creates the world's most widely used preservative and food condiment.

 

In 2007, Jennifer Strange died due to hyponatraemia. This is a condition that occurs when your drink too much water, which causes the body to flush salt out of your system. She died taking part in a competition called "Hold Your Wee for Wii"run by a radio station in Sacremento, California. The premise was to drink as much water as you can and not urinate.

The first great Roman road, the Via Salaria, lead from Rome to the Adriatic Sea, where salt was gathered. It is a myth that the Roman army were paid in salt, though their salarium enabled them to buy the precious commodity. Salad is so named because the Romans used salt to season their green vegetables. And they called a person in love salax, literally salted, the origin of the word salacious.

According to a superstition, spilling salt can cause bad luck — an idea that may have originated with Leonardo da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper," which shows Judas Iscariot knocking over a salt container.

Tea and coffee leave stains on cups and in pots. You can easily scrub away these unattractive rings by sprinkling salt onto a sponge and rubbing in little circles across the ring. If the stain persists, mix white vinegar with salt in equal proportions and rub with the sponge.