| In 1807, potassium metal was first isolated using an electrolysis
apparatus. When electrodes were immersed in a bath of molten potassium
hydroxide and a voltage was applied across the electrodes, liquid potassium
metal collected around the cathode. A few months later, the same
procedure was used to isolate sodium metal. Pure potassium metal
is very soft. It reacts with the oxygen in dry air to produce a powerful
oxidizing agent, potassium super oxide, K2O. In moist air, potassium
hydroxide, KOH, is produced. Because of its instability in air, potassium
is usually stored in kerosene. Potassium chloride, KCl, occurs in
many natural deposits. Enormous deposits are located in Saskatchewan,
Canada. The fertilizer industry refers to any potassium salt as potash.
The main salts used are the chloride, KCl, the nitrate, KNO3, and the sulphate,
K2SO4. Canada produces about 25% of the world production of potash from
deposits in the Prairie Evaporite Formation in Saskatchewan.
Listed below are the principal uses of potassium are in the form of
compounds:
* Potassium bromide, KBr, is extensively used
in the manufacture of photographic plates, films, and
papers.
* Potassium chlorate, KClO3, is a powerful
oxidizing agent. It is used in explosives, matches,
weed killers, fireworks, and disinfectant.
* Potassium chloride, KCl, is the most abundant
of potassium compounds. It is perhaps best known
as a no-sodium table salt substitute.
It is also an ingredient in many chemical fertilizers and is used in
the manufacture of other chemicals.
* Potassium hydroxide, KOH, is often called
caustic potash. It is used in the manufacture of soaps
and detergents. It is a good drain
cleanser because it combines with grease (that clog drains) to form
water soluble soaps.
* Potassium carbonate, K2CO3, is used in the
laboratory as a drying agent and industrially in the
manufacture of soft soap, hard
glass, and in the dyeing industry.
* Potassium iodide, KI, is used in medicine,
particularly in the treatment of goiters resulting from
iodine deficiency.
* Potassium nitrate, KNO, is used in chemical
fertilizers, in gunpowder and match heads.
* Potassium permanganate, KMnO4, is a purple
solid soluble in water. It is used in volumetric
analysis as an oxidizing agent.
It is also used as a bactericide and a disinfectant.
* Potassium sulfate, K2SO4, is used as a fertilizer,
particularly for tobacco plants, and in the
chemical industry in the preparation
of alum.
* Potassium super oxide, K2O, is used in the
respiratory equipment because it efficiently generates
fresh oxygen while removing carbon
dioxide. |
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