Re: Magnesium sulphate (was: and your...)

[Guest guest]

I can add that it's not salt in the sense that it does not contain

sodium (formula Na), but apparently it can be called a salt, or

ester, in a chemical sense. The " S " in the formula stands for sulfur

(looks kind of scary to me). It's also bound to a little bit of water

(seven molecules), so that the full formula is MgSO4.7H2O. I When

ordering this stuff at the pharmacy, I learned that you can buy

magnesium sulphate which is not bound to water; it's more expensive

and used for laboratory work. There is no advantage for our purposes.

" Sulphate " is the British spelling, " sulfate " the US spelling.

The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines " Epsom salts " (they

spell it with an -s at the end) this way: " crystals of hydrated

magnesium sulphate used as a purgative or for other medicinal use. "

They can also tell us that it's named after the town of Epsom, where

it was first found occurring naturally. Epsom is said to be, " a town

in Surrey, SE England; pop. 68,500 (1981). The annual Derby and Oaks

horse races are held at its racecourse on Epsom Downs. "

I hope this is interesting (especially the part about horse racing).

Some people put " I'm not a doctor " at the bottom of their mails: I

will write, " I'm not a chemist " !

-- Helge

>Yes, it's not salt: it's just called that because it looks like sea

>salt. Epsom is a place in England, I think. [...] It's magnesium

>sulphate, MgS04. Half of it is pure magnesium.