Magnesium chloride
Overview
 
Magnesium chloride is the name for the chemical compound
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

s with the formula
Chemical formula
A chemical formula or molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound....

s MgCl2 and its various hydrates MgCl2(H2O)x. These salts are typical ionic halides, being highly soluble in water. The hydrated magnesium chloride can be extracted from brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...

 or sea water. Magnesium chloride as the natural mineral bischofite
Bischofite
Bischofite is a hydrous magnesium chloride mineral with formula MgCl2·6. It belongs to halides and is a sea salt concentrate dated from the Permian Period...

 is also extracted (solution mining) out of ancient seabeds; for example, the Zechstein
Zechstein
The Zechstein is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland...

 seabed in northwest Europe.
 
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