Potassium

What is Potassium?

Potassium is an element in chemistry with the atomic number 19 and the symbol K (from Neo-Latin kalium).

The metal has a silvery white color and is sufficiently soft to cut with a knife with ease. In a few seconds, potassium metal and air oxygen combine to generate flaky, white potassium peroxide.

It was initially separated from potash, which is the term for plant ashes. Potassium is one of the alkali metals, which are represented in the periodic table.

All alkali metals have a single valence electron in the outer electron shell, which may be readily removed to produce a positively charged ion, which can then interact with anions to form salts.

Potassium is found only in ionic salts in nature. When elemental potassium and water combine violently, enough heat is produced to ignite the hydrogen released during the reaction, and a lilac-colored flame is produced.

Seawater, which contains 0.04% potassium by weight, is a solution to it. It can be found in a variety of minerals, including orthoclase, which is a common component of granites and other igneous rocks.

Potassium shares several chemical similarities with sodium, the element that came before it in group 1 of the periodic chart.

Each atom can give up its lone outer electron because of its identical initial ionization energies. The idea that they are different elements that mix with the same anions to form comparable salts was originally proposed in 1702.

It was confirmed in 1807 with the isolation of elemental potassium using electrolysis. Three isotopes make up naturally occurring potassium, ⁴⁰K of which is radioactive.

Potassium contains traces of ⁴⁰K, which is the most prevalent radioisotope in the human body.It is essential for all live cells to have potassium ions.

Normal nerve communication requires the transfer of potassium ions across nerve cell membranes; excess or deficit in potassium can cause a variety of symptoms, including irregular heartbeat and abnormal electrocardiograms.

Potassium is best obtained from food from fresh fruits and vegetables. The body moves potassium from outside to within cells and increases potassium excretion by the kidneys in response to the intake of dietary potassium, which raises serum potassium levels.

The majority of potassium’s industrial uses take advantage of its compounds’ strong water solubility, as shown in seawater soap.

Ninety-five percent of the chemicals produced worldwide are potassium-containing agricultural fertilizers, which can be used to replenish the soil’s potassium depletion caused by heavy crop output.

Etymology

The word potash, which describes an antiquated technique of obtaining different potassium salts, is where the English term for potassium originates.

It involves putting burnt wood or tree leaf ash in a pot, adding water, heating the mixture, and then letting it evaporate.

Using electrolysis, Humphry Davy first extracted the pure element in 1807 and gave it the name potassium, which he took from the term potash.

The Arabic term al-aliyah, which means “plant ashes,” is the root word of kali, which is where the sign K originates.

German chemist Martin Klaproth found “potash” in the minerals leucite and lepidolite in 1797. He later discovered that “potash” included a new element that he proposed to name kali, rather than being a byproduct of plant growth.

After Humphry Davy created the element using electrolysis in 1807, Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert suggested renaming Davy’s “potassium” as Kalium in 1809.

Potassium was first given the name kalium in 1814 by the Swedish chemist Berzelius, along with the chemical symbol.

While Gilbert and Klaproth’s term Kalium was accepted by the other Germanic countries, Davy and the French scientists Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques.

Thénard preferred the name Potassium for the English- and French-speaking countries. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s “Gold Book” designates K as the official chemical symbol.

Properties

Physical

After lithium, potassium is the second least dense metal. It is easily sliced with a knife and is a soft solid with a low melting point.

Although potassium has a silvery look, when it comes into contact with air, it tarnishes toward gray. Potassium and its compounds exhibit lilac coloration in a flame test, with a peak emission wavelength of 766.5 nanometers.

One extra electron exists in the configuration of neutral potassium atoms compared to that of the noble gas argon.

Although negatively charged alkaline K-ions are not impossible, the potassium atom has a considerably higher probability of losing its final electron and acquiring a positive charge due to its low first ionization energy of 418.8 kJ/mol.

The second ionization energy, on the other hand, is quite high (3052 kJ/mol).

Chemical

In the air, potassium interacts with carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen. It converts oxygen into potassium peroxide.

Potassium hydroxide is formed when it reacts with water (KOH). Potassium and water can react violently exothermically, especially because the hydrogen gas that is created in the process has the potential to ignite.

For this reason, although they are no longer employed as such, potassium and the liquid sodium-potassium (NaK) alloy are effective desiccants.

Compounds

Potassium oxide (K₂O), potassium peroxide (K₂O₂), potassium superoxide (KO₂), and potassium ozonide (KO₃) are the four oxides of potassium that have been thoroughly researched.

KOH is created when the binary potassium-oxygen compounds react with water.KOH has a powerful base.

One liter of water may dissolve up to 1.21 kilogram of KOH, demonstrating its hydrophilic nature. Rarely does one come upon anhydrous KOH.

In theory, potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃), which is easily formed by the reaction of KOH and carbon dioxide (CO₂), may be utilized to eliminate gas traces from the atmosphere.

KOH combines with lipids to form soaps, just like the closely related sodium hydroxide does. Potassium compounds are typically ionic and have good water solubility due to the high hydration energy of the K⁺ ion.

The aqua complexes [K(H₂O)n]⁺, where n = 6 and 7, are the primary species in the water solution. An intermediary in the process of separating tantalum from the otherwise persistent contaminant of niobium is potassium heptafluorotantalate (K₂[TaF₇]).

Nonionic potassium compounds are exemplified by organopotassium compounds. They have K–C bonds that are very polar and covalent.

Benzyl potassium KCH₂C₆H₅ is one example. Several graphite intercalation compounds, such as KC₈, are produced when potassium intercalates into graphite.

Isotopes

Three of the 25 known potassium isotopes—39 K (93.3%), ⁴⁰K (0.0117%), and ⁴¹K (6.7%) (by mole fraction)—occur naturally.

The half-life of naturally occurring ⁴⁰K is 1.250×109 years. It decays to stable ⁴⁰Ca by beta decay (88.8%) or stable ⁴⁰Ar by electron capture or positron emission (11.2%).

The typical method for dating rocks is based on the degradation of ⁴⁰K to ⁴⁰Ar. The traditional K-Ar dating technique is predicated on the idea that all of.

The subsequently radiogenic argon (⁴⁰ Ar) was quantitatively maintained and there was no argon in the rocks at the time of Genesis.

Measurements are used to date minerals. of the potassium content and the quantity of radioactive ⁴⁰Ar that has accumulated.

The minerals biotite, muscovite, metamorphic hornblende, and volcanic feldspar are the most suitable for dating; if the rock samples from volcanic flows and shallow intrusives are undisturbed, they can also be dated.

Because potassium is a macronutrient necessary for life on Earth, potassium isotopes have been employed as tracers in weathering and nutrient cycling studies in addition to being used for dating.

Large bags of commercial potassium substitutes can be utilized as a radioactive source for classroom demonstrations because ⁴⁰K is present in such substitutes in substantial quantities, similar to what happens in natural potassium.

The radioisotope that is most prevalent in the human body is ⁴⁰K. ⁴⁰K, which is even higher than ¹⁴C, and is the greatest source of radiation in healthy humans and animals.

About 4,400 nuclei at ⁴⁰K decay each second in a 70 kg human body. Natural potassium has an activity of 31 Bq/g.

Cosmic Formation and Distribution

In supernovae, potassium is created by the nucleosynthesis of lighter elements. In Type II supernovae, the primary mechanism for producing potassium is an intense oxygen-burning process.

(These are not to be confused with the chemical burning of potassium in oxygen; these are nuclear fusion reactions.)

Additionally, ⁴⁰K is produced during the burning of neon and the s-process nucleosynthesis. In the solar system, potassium ranks 20th, while in terms of weight, it is the 17th most plentiful element on Earth.

It is the seventh most prevalent element in the crust and accounts for around 2.6% of its weight. Seawater has a potassium concentration of 0.39 g/L (0.039 wt/v%), which is around one-twentieth that of sodium.

Potash

Since plants contain little to no sodium and mostly consist of calcium salts that are comparatively poorly soluble in water, potash is essentially a combination of potassium salts.

Although potash has been used for thousands of years, its composition is unknown. In 1702, Georg Ernst Stahl proposed the essential distinction between potassium and sodium salts based on experimental data, and in 1736.

Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau was able to provide proof of this distinction. Antoine Lavoisier did not include the alkali in his list of chemical elements since at the time it was unknown.

what the precise chemical makeup of compounds containing potassium and sodium was, as well as their status as chemical elements. components in 1789.

Potash was used extensively for a long time only in the manufacturing of glass, bleach, soap, and potassium nitrate, which was used to make gunpowder.

Because they are typically softer and more water-soluble, potassium soaps made from vegetable and animal fats were highly valued.

This is why they are referred to as “soft soaps.” The demand for potassium salts skyrocketed after Justus Liebig discovered in 1840 that potassium is an element that plants need and that most types of soil lack it.

Originally, fir tree wood ash was utilized as a potassium salt source for fertilizer, but industrial production of potassium-containing fertilizers started in 1868 when potassium chloride-containing mineral resources were found close to Staßfurt, Germany.

After further potash deposits were found, Canada emerged as the leading producer by the 1960s.

Metal

Humphry Davy separated potassium metal for the first time in 1807 by using the recently found voltaic pile to electrolyze molten caustic potash (KOH).

The first metal to be separated via electrolysis was potassium. Later that year, Davy reported using a similar method to extract the metal sodium from a mineral derivative.

(caustic soda, NaOH, or lye) as opposed to a plant salt, proving that the elements and hence the salts are distinct.

Although the fact that potassium and sodium metal could be produced should have demonstrated that both are elements, it took some time for this opinion to gain widespread acceptance.

Since potassium is sensitive to both air and water, handling the element often involves air-free approaches.

Nitrogen and saturated hydrocarbons like kerosene or mineral oil do not react with it. Up to 480 g of it dissolves easily in 1000 g of liquid ammonia at 0 °C.

The ammonia solutions range in color from blue to yellow depending on the concentration, and they have electrical conductivity comparable to liquid metals.

Tiny concentrations of transition metal salts speed up the sluggish reaction between potassium and ammonia to generate KNH₂. Potassium is frequently employed as the reductant in the Rieke process to prepare finely divided metals from their salts because it

can reduce the salts to the metal. The preparation of magnesium serves as an example:

MgCl₂ + 2 K → Mg + 2 KCl

Geology

Since elemental potassium is very reactive, it does not exist in the natural world. It also interacts severely with air and water.

Potassium feldspar, or orthoclase, is a common mineral that forms rocks. For instance, granite has 5% potassium, which is significantly more than the crust of the Earth’s average.

Worldwide, significant evaporite deposits contain the minerals sylvite (KCl), carnallite (KCl·MgCl₂·6H₂O), kainite (MgSO₄·KCl·3H₂O), and langbeinite (MgSO₄·K₂SO₄).

The deposits frequently exhibit layers, with the most soluble material at the top and the least soluble at the bottom.

Potassium nitrate, or niter, is generated when organic material that has come into contact with the atmosphere breaks down.

This happens primarily in caves, and because niter is very soluble in water, specific environmental conditions are needed for the production of significant deposits.

Biological Role

By mass (0.2%), potassium is the eighth or ninth most abundant element in the human body; therefore, an adult weighing 60kg has around 120g of potassium in total.

Potassium is about as plentiful in the body as sulfur and chlorine, and the only elements more prevalent than potassium are calcium and phosphorus (apart from the ubiquitous CHON elements).

A large range of proteins and enzymes include potassium ions.

Biochemical Function

Potassium levels affect several physiological functions, including as

• measuring the propagation of action potentials in cardiac, muscle, and neural tissue as well as the cellular-membrane potential. K⁺ ions are larger
• than Na⁺ ions due to their electrostatic and chemical characteristics, and ion channels and pumps in cell membranes are able to distinguish

• between the two ions, actively pumping or passively passing one while blocking the other.
• hormone release and function
• Vascular Tone
• regulation of systemic blood pressure
• Gastrointestinal motility
• acid-base balance
• insulin and glucose metabolism
• Effect of mineralocorticoids
• renal capacity for concentration
• equilibrium of fluid and electrolytes
• sleep/wake balance, spontaneous activity, and local brain monoaminergic norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine levels (via these mediators).

Homeostasis

Potassium homeostasis is the state in which the intracellular to extracellular potassium concentration ratio, plasma potassium level, and total body potassium content remain within certain bounds despite pulsatile intake (meals), mandatory renal excretion, and intracellular and extracellular compartment changes.

Plasma Levels

Multiple systems maintain plasma potassium levels between 3.5 and 5.5 millimoles (mmol) [or milliequivalents (mEq)] per liter.

Serum potassium levels outside of this range are linked to an increased risk of death for a variety of reasons, and if they are not kept within the normal range, certain heart, kidney, and lung disorders proceed more quickly.

The body receives more potassium from an average meal of 40–50 mmol than from all of the plasma (20–25 mmol).

Up to 10% more plasma potassium is produced by this spike before it is eliminated by extrarenal and renal processes.

A potassium deficit in the plasma known as hypokalemia can be lethal in extreme cases. Increased renal loss (diuresis) and increased gastrointestinal loss (vomiting, diarrhea) are common reasons.

Muscle weakness, paralytic ileus, aberrant ECG readings, reduced reflex reaction, and in more severe cases, respiratory paralysis, alkalosis, and cardiac arrhythmia are examples of deficiency symptoms.

Control Mechanisms

There are four fundamental systems that strictly regulate the amount of potassium in the plasma; these mechanisms are categorized and named differently. These are the following:

1. a system of reactive negative feedback,
2. a feed-forward reactive system,
3. a circadian or predictive system, and
4. a method of transport within the cell membrane or within.

The first two are referred to as the “reactive potassium homeostasis system,” and the first three together as the “external potassium homeostasis system”.

• The system that causes renal potassium secretion in reaction to an increase in plasma potassium is known as the reactive negative feedback system. This can occur by intravenous infusion, shift out of cells, or potassium consumption.

• An unidentified system known as the reactive feed-forward system causes renal potassium release in response to potassium consumption before plasma potassium levels rise. Gut cell potassium receptors, which identify ingested potassium and cause vagal afferent signals to be sent to the pituitary gland, are most likely the cause of this.

• Regardless of the availability, amount, or lack of potassium ingestion, the predictive or circadian system causes an increase in renal secretion of potassium during mealtime hours (e.g., daylight for humans, and nighttime for mice). It is facilitated by a circadian oscillator located in the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus (central clock), which triggers the kidney’s (peripheral clock) potassium secretion in a regular, circadian manner.

• Two methods are used by the ion transport system to transfer potassium across the cell membrane. One is active and forces potassium into the cell and sodium out of it. The other is passive, letting potassium escape the cell. Through osmotic pressures, potassium and sodium cations affect the distribution of fluid between intracellular and external compartments. The sodium/potassium ATPase pump facilitates the passage of potassium and sodium across the cell membrane. This ion pump creates an electrochemical gradient and electromotive force across the cell membrane by pumping three sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium ions in. It does this by using ATP. The potassium is extremely specific For example, tetramer ion channels are essential for the subsequent hyperpolarization of neurons following the triggering of an action potential. There are now five potassium ion channels with known structures: KcsA, KirBac1.1, KirBac3.1, KvAP, and MthK. The most recent addition to this group is KirBac3.1. The five originate from prokaryotic organisms.

Renal Filtration, Reabsorption, and Excretion

The processing of potassium by the kidneys is intimately linked to that of sodium. Animal cells contain primarily potassium (150 mmol/L, or 4.8 g) as a positive ion, whereas extracellular fluid contains primarily sodium (150 mmol/L, or 3.345 g) as a significant cation.

Approximately 180 liters of plasma are filtered daily by the kidneys’ glomeruli and renal tubules. About 600 mg of salt and 33 mg of potassium are filtered away during this process.

Since the diet is likely to replace only 1-4 mg of potassium and 1-10 mg of sodium, renal filtration must effectively reabsorb the remaining amounts from the plasma.

To keep serum sodium concentration, osmotic pressure, and extracellular volume within specific bounds, salt is reabsorbed.

To keep the serum potassium concentration within specific bounds, potassium is reabsorbed. The renal tubules’ sodium pumps work to reabsorb sodium.

Though potassium must be preserved, the situation is not as dire since there is a much larger pool of potassium in cells than there is in blood plasma, which is around 30 times smaller.

Given that potassium passively moves in counterflow to sodium in reaction to a perceived (but unreal)With the exception of rare occasions when water is aggressively excreted at the conclusion of processing.

The urine can never go below the potassium concentration in serum due to Donnan equilibrium. Before urine reaches the collecting tubules, potassium is reabsorbed three times and expelled twice.

Urine typically has a potassium content that is comparable to plasma at that moment. If the serum levels are excessively high at the end of the processing, potassium is secreted one more time.

When there is no intake of potassium, it is eliminated at a rate of roughly 200 mg daily. After a week or so, the serum potassium level drops to a little low level of 3.0–3.5 mmol/L.

The concentration will decrease if potassium is kept out of the system until a severe shortage results in death.

Via holes in the cell membrane, potassium travels passively. There are gates in ion transporters, or pumps, on both sides of the cell membrane that allow only one gate to be open at a time when ions pass through them.

About 100 ions are pushed through per second as a result. There is only one gate per ion channel, and only one type of ion—between 10 million and 100 million ions per second—can pass through it.

Calcium is necessary for the opening of the pores, while calcium can have the opposite effect and obstruct at least one of the pores.

Due to the electrostatic charges on four carbonyl groups within the pore, the amino acid’s carbonyl groups imitate the water hydration that occurs in aqueous solutions.

Nutrition

Dietary Recommendations

Dietary Reference Intakes, such as Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) and Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), or Adequate Intakes (AIs) for situations.

When there is insufficient data to define EARs and RDAs, are established by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) on behalf of both the United States and Canada.

The AIs for potassium are 400 mg for 0 to 6-month-old infants, 860 mg for 7 to 12-month-old infants, 2,000 mg for 1 to 3-year-old children, and 2,300 mg for 4 to 8-year-old children, for both boys and girls under the age of nine.

The recommended daily intakes (AIs) for potassium for boys 9 years of age and older are 2,500 mg for those aged 9 to 13, 3,000 mg for those aged 14 to 18, and 3,400 mg for those aged 19 and beyond.

The recommended daily intakes (AIs) for potassium for females 9 years of age and above are 2,300 mg for those 9 to 18 years old and 2,600 mg for those 19 years of age and above.

The recommended daily intakes (AIs) for potassium in pregnant and lactating females are 2,600 mg for those between the ages of 14 and 18, 2,900 mg for those between the ages of 19 and 18, and 2,500 mg for those between the ages of 14 and 18 who are nursing.

And 2,800 mg for those who are nursing 19 years of age and above. Regarding safety, the NAM establishes acceptable upper limit levels (ULs) for vitamins and minerals; however, no UL was defined for potassium due to inadequate data.

The majority of adult Americans consumed less than 3,000 mg as of 2004. Likewise, inadequate potassium intake is rather widespread throughout.

The European Union, especially in Germany and Italy. A comparable consumption is advised by.

The British National Health Service, states that individuals require 3,500 mg daily and that exceeding this amount may result in health issues like diarrhea and stomach ache.

The Adequate Intake for potassium was updated in 2019 by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.

And Medicine to 2,600 mg/day for females 19 years of age and older who are not pregnant or nursing, and 3,400 mg/day for males 19 years of age and older.

Food Sources

All fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish contain potassium. Foods high in potassium include potatoes, bamboo shoots, bananas, avocados, coconut water, soybeans, bran, yam, parsley, dried apricots, milk, chocolate, and all nuts (particularly pistachios and almonds).

Tomato paste, orange juice, beet greens, white beans, potatoes, plantains, bananas, apricots, and many other food items are included in the United States Department of Agriculture’s.

List of potassium-rich foods, which are arranged in descending order. Eleven bananas or five plantains provide the daily amount of potassium.

Deficient Intake

Hypokalemia and hypertension are two consequences of low-potassium diets.

Supplementation

Potassium supplements are most frequently used in conjunction with diuretics (thiazides and loop diuretics) that prevent water and sodium from being reabsorption upstream from the distal tubule.

This is because these diuretics enhance potassium secretion in the distal tubule, which in turn increases potassium excretion.

There are numerous over-the-counter and prescription supplement options. Although potassium chloride can be dissolved in water, liquid supplements are inedible due to their bitter and salty flavor.

The usual doses are 400 mg for 10 mmol and 800 mg for 20 mmol. Additionally, potassium is offered in the form of tablets or capsules.

These are designed to release potassium gradually from a matrix, as excessively high potassium ion concentrations next to solid tablets may cause damage to the mucosa of the stomach or intestines.

[Needs a medical citation] Because of this, US law caps the amount of potassium in over-the-counter potassium pills at 99 mg.

A meta-analysis found that a 21% decreased risk of stroke was linked to a daily consumption of potassium of 1640 mg.

For the treatment of moderate hypertension, potassium bicarbonate and potassium chloride may be helpful.

With over 17 million prescriptions written for it in 2020, potassium was the 33rd most often prescribed drug in the United States.

Detection by Taste Buds

Because it causes three of the five different types of taste sensations, potassium can be recognized by taste, depending on concentration.

Potassium ions taste sweet in diluted solutions, which makes them suitable for moderate concentrations in milk and juices.

At greater concentrations, however, the concentrations get more bitter and alkaline, and eventually, they also taste salty.

A palatability difficulty arises when high-dose potassium supplementation via liquid drinks, due to the bitter and salty combination of high-potassium solutions.

Commercial Production

In ancient lake bottoms and seabeds, potassium salts like carnallite, langbeinite, polyhalite, and sylvite produce large evaporite deposits that make potassium salt extraction in these environments commercially viable.

Potash, the main source of potassium, is mined in Canada, the United States, Israel, Germany, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and other countries. Although the deposits extend from Great Britain over Germany and into Poland, the earliest mined areas were close to Staßfurt, Germany.

They were deposited between the Middle and Late Permian, and they are found in the Zechstein.

The greatest concentrations discovered to yet are located 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) below the surface of Saskatchewan, a province in Canada.

The Middle Devonian-produced Elk Point Group contains the deposits. The Blairmore Formation in Saskatchewan is home to numerous sizable mines that have been operating since the 1960s.

It was here that the method of freezing wet sands and then driving mine shafts through them was first used.

Prior to its merger, the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan—now Nutrien—was the principal potash mining corporation in Saskatchewan.

While the concentration in regular oceans is too low for economic production at present prices, Israel and Jordan use the water of the Dead Sea as a source of potash.

Chemical Extraction

Potassium salts are separated from sodium and magnesium compounds using a variety of techniques.

The most popular technique makes use of the variations in salt solubility to perform fractional precipitation.

Some mines also utilize electrostatic separation for the crushed salt mixture. The resultant debris, which contains magnesium and sodium, is either stacked in slag heaps or kept underground.

After processing, the majority of the potassium mineral that is mined becomes potassium chloride.

Potassium chloride is known in the mineral business as MOP, potash, or muriate of potash. The electrolysis of potassium hydroxide is a method for isolating pure potassium metal, and it hasn’t altered much since Humphry Davy utilized it in 1807.

The thermal approach involved combining sodium with potassium chloride in a chemical equilibrium reaction.

Became the predominant technique in the 1950s, despite the fact that the electrolysis process was invented and employed on an industrial scale in the 1920s.
Na + KCl → NaCl + K
By adjusting the reaction duration and the amount of sodium utilized in the reaction, sodium potassium alloys can be produced.

Potassium was also produced via the Griesheimer process, which uses the interaction of potassium fluoride with calcium carbide.
2KF + CaC₂ → 2K + CaF₂ + 2C
When bought by the tonne in 2010, reagent-grade potassium metal cost roughly $10.00 per pound ($22 per kilogram).

The metal of lower purity is far less expensive. Because it is hard to store metal for an extended period of time, the market is unstable.

To stop potassium superoxide, a pressure-sensitive explosive that explodes when scratched, from forming a surface layer, it must be stored in anhydrous mineral oil or a dry, inert gas atmosphere. Often, the explosion that follows ignites a fire that is challenging to put out.

Cation Identification

Currently, ionization techniques are used to quantify potassium, however, gravimetric analysis was once used as well.

Sodium tetraphenylborate, hexachloroplatinic acid, and sodium cobaltinitrite are the reagents used to precipitate potassium ions into potassium tetraphenylborate, potassium hexachloroplatinate, and potassium cobaltinitrite, respectively.

An example of this is the reaction with sodium cobaltinitrite:
3 K⁺ + Na₃[Co(NO₂)₆] → K₃[Co(NO₂)₆] + 3Na⁺
It is possible to obtain potassium cobaltinitrite as a yellow solid.

Commercial Uses

Fertilizer

Potassium ions are present in most types of soil and are a vital part of plant nutrition. They are the ‘K’ in ‘NPK’ and are utilized as fertilizers in hydroponic culture, horticulture, and agriculture as chloride (KCl), sulfate (K₂SO₄), or nitrate (KNO₃).

95% of the potassium chemicals produced worldwide are used as agricultural fertilizers, and 90% of this potassium is given as KCl.

Most plants have a potassium content that is often stated as a quantity of K₂O and ranges from 0.5% to 2% of the harvested weight of crops.

Contemporary high-fertilizers are necessary in yield agriculture to replenish the potassium lost during harvest.

While potassium sulfate is utilized for crops that require a higher sulfur content or are sensitive to chloride, potassium chloride is present in the majority of agricultural fertilizers.

The primary source of sulfate is the breakdown of the complex minerals langbeinite (MgSO₄·K₂SO₄) and kainite (MgSO₄·KCl·₃H₂O). The potassium nitrate found in fertilizers is quite rare.

In 2005, the fertilizer industry absorbed around 93% of the world’s potassium production. Furthermore, through regulating the composition of litter, potassium can be a major factor in the cycling of nutrients.

Medical Use

Potassium Citrate

Renal tubular acidosis is a disease that causes kidney stones that is treated with potassium citrate.

Potassium Chloride

Potassium chloride, a potassium-based medicine, is used to treat and prevent low blood potassium. Diarrhea, vomiting, or taking certain drugs can all result in low blood potassium. It can be taken orally or by a gradual intravenous infusion.

Food Additives

One of the key ingredients in various baking powders is potassium sodium tartrate, often known as Rochelle salt (KNaC₄H₄O₆), which is also used for silver mirrors.

Strong oxidizer (E924) potassium bromate (KBrO₃) is used to increase dough strength and raise height.

When manufacturing wine and beer, for instance, potassium bisulfite (KHSO₃) is used as a food preservative (but not for meats).

In addition, it is employed in the tanning of leathers and the bleaching of fabrics and straws.

Industrial

Potassium hydroxide, carbonate, sulfate, and chloride are the main compounds made of potassium. Each year, megatons of these chemicals are created.

Strong bases like KOH are used in industry to create potassium salts, regulate pH, and neutralize both strong and weak acids.

Additionally, it is employed in industrial cleansers, esters hydrolysis processes, and the saponification of fats and oils.

Potassium nitrate (KNO₃), also known as saltpeter, is produced using the Haber process or can be extracted naturally from materials like guano and evaporites.

It is a crucial fertilizer for agriculture and serves as the oxidant in gunpowder. Industrial applications of potassium cyanide (KCN) involve the formation of complexes that dissolve copper and precious metals, especially gold and silver.

Among its uses are the electroplating, electroforming, and gold mining industries. metals; it is also utilized to create nitriles in organic synthesis.

Uses for potassium carbonate, often known as potash or K₂CO₃, include the production of glass, soap, fluorescent lights, color TV tubes, and textile and pigment colors.

Saccharin is made using potassium permanganate (KMnO₄), an oxidizing, bleaching, and purifying agent.

Add potassium chlorate (KClO₃) to explosives and matches. Historically, potassium bromide (KBr) was employed in photography and as a sedative.

Potassium chromate (K₂CrO₄) is utilized in the production of numerous commercial goods, including fly paper, safety matches, inks, and dyes.

Wood stains (by reacting with the tannic acid in wood), explosives, fireworks, and tanning leather, applications are all related to the chromate ion’s chemistry rather than the potassium ion’s.

Niche Uses

Different potassium compounds have thousands of uses. One such is potassium superoxide, or KO2, an orange solid that can be carried about and used as an absorber of carbon dioxide and a source of oxygen on demand.

Owing to its smaller volume than gaseous oxygen, it finds extensive application in respiration systems found in mines, submarines, and spacecraft.

4 KO₂ +2 CO₂→ 2K₂CO₃ + 3 O₂

Potassium cobaltinitrite, or K₃[Co(NO₂)₆], is another example. It is sold as an artist’s pigment under the names Cobalt Yellow and Aureolin.

By using a laser to chill the stable potassium isotopes, one can investigate both basic and applied quantum physics issues. The two bosonic isotopes

have handy Feshbach resonances that allow for research requiring adjustable interactions, while among the alkali metals, ⁴⁰K is one of only two stable fermions.

Laboratory Uses

NaK is a liquid alloy of sodium and potassium that is used as a desiccant to produce dry, air-free solvents and as a heat-transfer medium.

Reactive distillation is yet another application for it. Of all metallic compounds, the ternary alloy consisting of 12% Na, 47% K, and 41% Cs has the lowest melting point, at -78 °C. Magnetic potassium is utilized in a variety of magnetometer types.

Precautions

When potassium metal and water react violently, KOH and hydrogen gas are produced.

2 K(s) + 2 H₂O(l) → 2 KOH(aq) + H₂(g)↑

In the presence of oxygen, this exothermic reaction releases enough heat to ignite the resultant hydrogen.

Potassium that has been finely powdered ignites in room-temperature air. If heated, the bulk metal ignites in the air.

Burning potassium floats in water exposed to ambient oxygen due to its density of 0.89 g/cm3. Water is one of the many typical fire extinguisher agents that either doesn’t work at all or makes a potassium fire worse.

Argon, nitrogen, if dry, silicon dioxide (sand), sodium carbonate (soda ash), and sodium chloride (table salt) work well.

Effective Class D dry powder extinguishers are also available for use against metal fires. These substances cool the potassium metal while robbing the flames of oxygen.

Potassium produces superoxides and peroxides as it is stored. These peroxides can react strongly with oils and other organic substances.

With metallic potassium, reactions can be explosive for both peroxides and superoxides. Potassium is often kept under kerosene or anhydrous mineral oil because it reacts with airborne water vapor.

Potassium, unlike lithium and sodium, should not be kept in oil for more than six months unless it is in a vacuum or an inert (oxygen-free) environment.

Dangerous shock-sensitive peroxides can develop on the metal and under the container lid during extended air storage, and they can explode when the lid is opened.

Consuming excessive amounts of potassium-containing chemicals can cause hyperkalemia, which has a major impact on the heart.

In the United States, potassium chloride is used for executions via fatal injection.

FAQ