One day last summer, a customer service representative for a company called Crystalite Salt received a phone call from Jennifer Lardge, a physicist. Lardge was curious about the science behind one of their products: lumps of salt, called lamps, that are meant to improve your health when they are heated. "I was looking at your Web site and I was just wondering about how salt lamps actually work," Lardge said.
"Right," responded the Crystalite Salt customer service representative.
"Well I was just wondering how they release the ions?"
"It's when it's warmed. The heat from the bulb or the candle. And it's like a reaction with the salt that then produces the ions."
"OK, it's just I have studied science a little and I was thinking that the bonds that hold the salt ions together are quite strong and I was wondering if there was enough energy in an ordinary ...
