Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate is a hydrate, the heptahydrate form of magnesium sulfate. It has laxative and laxative effects. It is a magnesium salt and hydrate. It contains magnesium sulfate.
Magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (in English-speaking countries other than the United States) is a chemical compound, a salt of the formula MgSO4, consisting of the magnesium cation Mg2+ (20.19% by mass) and the sulfate anion SO2−4. It is a white crystalline solid that is soluble in water but insoluble in ethanol.
Magnesium sulfate usually occurs as the hydrate MgSO4 nH2O, with n values between 1 and 11. The most common is heptahydrate MgSO4 7H2O, known as Epsom salt, a household chemical with many traditional uses, including bath salt. [1]
The main use of magnesium sulfate is in agriculture to correct magnesium deficient soils (magnesium is an essential plant nutrient due to its role in chlorophyll and photosynthesis). Monohydrate is suitable for this purpose; by the mid-1970s its production was 2.3 million tons per year. [2] The anhydrous form and several hydrates occur in nature as minerals, and salt is an important component of some spring waters.
Magnesium sulphate monohydrate or gallonite can be prepared by heating the heptahydrate to 120 °C. [10] Further heating to 250 °C to obtain anhydrous magnesium sulfate. [10] Andorenite exhibits a monoclinic symmetry at pressures below 2.7 GPa, after which it transforms into a triclinic phase.
Magnesium sulfate is usually obtained directly from dried lake beds and other natural sources. It can also be prepared by reacting magnesite (magnesium carbonate, MgCO3) or magnesium oxide (oxide, MgO) with sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
Another possibility is to treat seawater or magnesium-containing industrial waste to precipitate magnesium hydroxide and react the precipitate with sulfuric acid.
In addition, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (epsomite, MgSO4 7H2O) is produced by dissolving magnesium sulfate monohydrate (MgSO4 7H2O) in water and subsequently crystallizing the heptahydrate.
