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InvisibleTheEaglesGift
The Nagual


Registered: 04/10/11
Posts: 10,554
Loc: Ixtlan, Mexico
Trusted Cultivator
My pelletized gypsum turned to mud.
    #20254325 - 07/10/14 05:43 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

I have two 40 lb bags of pelletized gypsum that got wet and turned to mud, then dried. It's like cement. I can still chip away at it to get what I need, but I do have a concern:

Is it possible the calcium and sulfur have separated? I wouldn't want to use a chunk that is primarily sulfur or calcium, and have it swing my ph too far in any direction. Opinions?

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OfflinePsilicon
Really Nice Guy


Registered: 08/26/12
Posts: 7,057
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
Re: My pelletized gypsum turned to mud. [Re: TheEaglesGift]
    #20254486 - 07/10/14 06:20 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

They did separate when they dissolved, but they're back together again.  That's part of the normal dissolution and drying process of salts.  With their polar properties, they just can't resist each other.  :smile:


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InvisibleTheEaglesGift
The Nagual


Registered: 04/10/11
Posts: 10,554
Loc: Ixtlan, Mexico
Trusted Cultivator
Re: My pelletized gypsum turned to mud. [Re: Psilicon]
    #20254934 - 07/10/14 07:53 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

YEAH MR WHITE, SCIENCE!

I'll research this topic more. I figured I might be worrying over nothing.

Any more insights from anyone?

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InvisibleTheEaglesGift
The Nagual


Registered: 04/10/11
Posts: 10,554
Loc: Ixtlan, Mexico
Trusted Cultivator
Re: My pelletized gypsum turned to mud. [Re: TheEaglesGift]
    #20255753 - 07/10/14 10:40 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

As I inspect my gypsum mud mess, I'm noticing that certain chunks smell very strongly of sulfur while others have almost no scent at all. Wish I understood chemical sciences better.

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OfflinePsilicon
Really Nice Guy


Registered: 08/26/12
Posts: 7,057
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
Re: My pelletized gypsum turned to mud. [Re: TheEaglesGift]
    #20255830 - 07/10/14 11:03 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

When you have a salt (like gypsum, which is calcium sulfate, or table salt, which is sodium chloride) dissolve, it splits the ions up and they go into the water separately and mingle with the oppositely-charged part of water molecules.  For this example we'll use NaCl because it's only two atoms.

                                Cl-           
  H+  H+      O-      H+  H+
      O-      H+  H+      O-
    Na+

Got it?  They split up and the positives hang out with the negatives and vice versa, because opposites attract.  But when the relative humidity is less than 100%, you'll always have evaporation and the water molecules will slowly leave this solution.

Relative humidity is the partial pressure of water in the atmosphere.  It's a nice way of saying, "Okay, so air can hold this much water at the temperature you're looking at, and you it's currently holding 68% of that amount, so there's room for 32% more."  That's easy enough to understand, right?  Well, ions have the same arrangement in water.  Water can only hold so much sodium or chlorine at any given temperature, and that's it.  Any more and it's just going to sit there on the bottom.  If it's already there in the solution, like a glass of saltwater, you get something called precipitation.  The sodium will grab a chloride as it literally falls out of its place and settles to the bottom, and it will start to crystallize just like rock candy on a stick in that project they had you do in third grade.

Incidentally, what do we call it when the RH is at 100% and then there's a drop in temperature and the air can't hold that much moisture anymore?  That's right; it's also called precipitation.

So you have these crystals forming, and as water continues to leave the solution they form in a lattice structure: 

Na+Cl-Na+Cl-
Cl-Na+Cl-Na+

This lattice can get pretty big.  In fact, in the case of gypsum, it can get really fucking big.

Of course, if you do it too quickly, you get kind of a fucked-up looking lump instead of a crystal.  And gypsum likes to keep some of the water around, locked into its crystals, and that complicates things, too. But the same principle applies.  You can't just dissolve things and then have them separate into one pile of one element and then another pile of another.  If that were the case, beaches would be littered with elemental sodium and whenever the tide came in there'd be a hell of a fireworks show to watch if the chlorine gas didn't kill you before you got there.

Anyway, the point is your gypsum is fine.

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InvisibleTheEaglesGift
The Nagual


Registered: 04/10/11
Posts: 10,554
Loc: Ixtlan, Mexico
Trusted Cultivator
Re: My pelletized gypsum turned to mud. [Re: Psilicon]
    #20255867 - 07/10/14 11:15 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

You explained that very well. Thank you for taking your time to, 5 shrooms for you buddy.

I understand fully.

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