Good question Dave ... and I don't have an answer, nor have I been able to
get the same question answered by the experts.
My assumption is that the sodium-chloride salt crystals, being long in
structure, are the needed component of a good surface. They cross-link to
form a very solid structure if the depth is there. We saw what happened
when the mag-chloride spill destroyed the surface integrity ... you can
scratch about 3/4 " deep into the surface and hit solid stuff below. The
mag-chloride is reportedly the lightest of the salts so that makes sense.
That soft surface is the reason we are on the course we have been on for
nine years. Its away from where the spill affected the surface for the most
part.
How the potash affects the crystal strength would be interesting to know and
I don't have a clue. There are other "salts" that are harvested too and
they would seem to be part of the strength of the surface structure as well.
No one will flat out address that direct question with a direct answer and I
have asked it several times of people who should know.
Remember too, the salt "growth" is from the bottom up. As brine percolates
to the surface the evaporation leaves the crystallized salts on the surface
that come up from brine in the mud strata below. Salt "lay-down" is a
misnomer.
Wes
PS. How did your engines do at the 12 hours of Sebring? Great racing. But
they had "racing surface" problems too. I left to go to a Jeff Hamilton
Trio concert and missed the last few hours. Choices, choices...
WSP
on 3/16/02 6:05 AM, Dave Dahlgren at ddahlgren@snet.net wrote:
> Not being much of a chemist type this did make one question come to mind
> though.
> Does what they take out of the "salt' mining it make it better or worse as a
> racing surface and does it change the life cycle of the surface? Does the
> potash
> and other minerals make up something that is near and dear to the composition
> of
> what we call the 'salt surface'?
> Dave Dahlgren
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