The mineral gypsum has a variety of uses.
Gypsum contains calcium and is a calcium sulfate hydrate. Gypsum has several uses, including as a soil amendment, in drywall-plaster linings for houses and in plaster of Paris for a variety of molds and casts.
Soil Amendment
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that gypsum can help improve soils in multiple ways. It provides nutrients for plants, improves water filtration and prevents nutrients and sediment from flowing out of soils and into water supplies with waterings. It also improves salty soils by removing salt stuck to soil particles, allowing other nutrients to latch into the soil instead. According to Ohio State University, gypsum prevents soil from crusting when it dries. Gardeners and farmers can either sprinkle gypsum onto the surface of the soil or till it into the soil, since it dissolves easily in water and soaks into the soil.
Drywall
A lot of drywall for both residential and commercial buildings is a sheet of gypsum with a paper backing attached on each side. The drywall is used as flat wall surfaces, and decorators can apply wall texture and paint onto drywall to create a desired interior look. Gypsum drywall usually comes in sheets 1/4-inch thick. Drywall material can be used as an agriculture fertilizer when recycled from demolished houses and other buildings, a practice in use at the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Casts
Some products like plumbing fixtures and many car parts are shaped in gypsum plaster of Paris molds. Gypsum is also used in dental casts. Michigan State University explains that gypsum can be boiled and turned into a powder, then mixed with mater and shaped into a mold. These molds can be recycled and used for an agricultural fertilizer, according to Ohio State University.
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