Salt Crystal Lamps - Do they completely dissolve?

Question

Just interested in finding out whether, as the lamps attract water and the salts dissolve, does that mean the whole lamp will eventually dissolve?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

We've had one for about five years now and it is no smaller or wetter than it was when we got it. I know salt is supposed to attract moisture from the air, but it doesn't. It's really just like a big piece of rock. I tasted it when we first got it, just out of curiosity, and it really is salt! We use it for a night-light and I really like it.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Extra points for admitting you tasted the lamp! I must admit I tasted mine too, or at least the water that had formed on the table, to see if it was salty.

Answer 2

I've had a salt lamp for a few years now and when I first got it, it shed a little bit of salt onto the surface it was on. Since then I have kept it on a glass plate, just in case, and it has shed a little bit more salt but not enough to change its appearance at all. I keep my house fairly cool and live in a dampish climate so that might explain the salt shedding. I guess the whole lamp might dissolve, in time, but at the rate it's going I think the chunk of salt is going to last as long as I'm likely to. It gives a beautiful light.