
It has an eutectic point with water at −3.9 ☌ and 17.3% (mass) of MgSO4. Above that temperature, it liquefies into a mix of solid heptahydrate and a saturated solution. Undecahydrate ĢO, meridianiite, is stable at atmospheric pressure only below 2 ☌. Further heating to approximately 300–320 ☌ gives anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The monohydrate can be prepared by heating the hexahydrate to approximately 150 ☌. However, these are different from Epsom salts that are used for gardening, as they contain aromas and perfumes not suitable for plants. Epsom salts are commonly used in bath salts, exfoliants, muscle relaxers and pain relievers. It is a natural source of both magnesium and sulphur. The heptahydrate readily loses one equivalent of water to form the hexahydrate. The heptahydrate takes its common name "Epsom salt" from a bitter saline spring in Epsom in Surrey, England, where the salt was produced from the springs that arise where the porous chalk of the North Downs meets the impervious London clay. It decomposes without melting at 1124 ☌ into magnesium oxide (MgO) and sulfur trioxide (SO 3). Above 320 ☌, only the anhydrous form is stable. Īll the hydrates lose water upon heating. Īs of 2017, the existence of the decahydrate apparently has not been confirmed. ĢO ("Epsom salt") epsomite, orthorhombic. Magnesium sulfate can crystallize as several hydrates, including:Ĥ unstable in nature, hydrates to form epsomite. The anhydrous form and several hydrates occur in nature as minerals, and the salt is a significant component of the water from some springs.

The monohydrate is favored for this use by the mid 1970s, its production was 2.3 million tons per year. The main use of magnesium sulfate is in agriculture, to correct soils deficient in magnesium (an essential plant nutrient because of the role of magnesium in chlorophyll and photosynthesis).


The most common is the heptahydrate MgSOĢO, known as Epsom salt, which is a household chemical with many traditional uses, including bath salts. Magnesium sulfate is usually encountered in the form of a hydrate MgSOĢO, for various values of n between 1 and 11. It is a white crystalline solid, soluble in water but not in ethanol. (20.19% by mass) and sulfate anions SO 2−Ĥ. Magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulphate (in British English) is a chemical compound, a salt with the formula MgSO
