Facts about Potassium

The mineral named "potash" is composed mainly of potassium carbonate (K2CO3), with minor amounts of other potassium salts.

Today, potassium carbonate is prepared commercially by the electrolysis of potassium chloride.

Potassium, especially in the form of its ions, compounds, and alloys, has a wide range of applications.

The oceans are another source of potassium, but the quantity present in a given volume of seawater is relatively low, compared to the concentration of sodium.

Potassium ions are essential nutrients for living organisms and are found in seawater and most soil types.

Potassium nitrate is used in gunpowder, the carbonate is valuable for the manufacture of glass, and the superoxide is a source of oxygen in portable respiratory systems.

Potassium was not known to the ancient Romans, and its names are neo-Latin, not Classical Latin.

Potassium minerals such as carnallite, langbeinite, polyhalite, and sylvite form extensive deposits in the beds of ancient lakes and seas.

Potassium (in the form of ions in solution) is an essential mineral in human nutrition.

Research has indicated that diets high in potassium can reduce the risk of hypertension.

Potassium and its compounds emit a violet color in a flame.

The compound potassium hydroxide (KOH), sometimes known as caustic potash or potash lye, is a metallic base.

Potassium makes up about 2.4 percent of the weight of the Earth's crust and is the seventh most abundant element in it.

The majority of the potassium chloride produced is used for making fertilizer, because the growth of many plants is limited by their potassium intake.

Minerals are dated by measurement of the concentration of potassium and the amount of radiogenic (radioactively produced) 40Ar that has accumulated.

To prevent this from happening, samples of potassium are stored in an inert medium such as kerosene.

The 2004 guidelines of the Institute of Medicine specify a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of 4,700 mg potassium daily.

The principal source of potassium, potash (impure form of potassium carbonate), is mined in California, New Mexico, Utah, Germany, and in other places around the world.

Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) is a deliquescent (usually damp or wet) white salt that readily dissolves in water to form a strongly alkaline solution.

Potassium chloride (KCl) occurs naturally as the mineral sylvite and in combination with sodium chloride as sylvinite.

Potassium is vital to the human body, and oral potassium chloride is the common means to replenish it, although it can also be diluted and given intravenously.

Highly soluble in water, it is a source of potassium and chloride ions.

Eating a variety of foods that contain potassium is the best way to get an adequate amount.

The Latin name kalium (from which potassium gets its symbol, K) was taken from the word "alkali," which came from Arabic al qal?y, meaning "the calcined ashes."

The conventional potassium-argon dating method depends on the assumption that the rocks contained no argon at the time of formation and that all the subsequent 40Ar was quantitatively retained.

The resultant potassium hydroxide is then carbonated using carbon dioxide to form potassium carbonate, which is often used to produce other potassium compounds.

A shortage of potassium can cause a potentially fatal condition known as hypokalemia, typically after excessive loss of potassium through diarrhea, vomiting, or increased diuresis (production of urine).

Potassium was discovered in 1807 by Sir Humphry Davy, who derived it from caustic potash (potassium hydroxide, KOH).

Potassium can be isolated through the electrolysis of its hydroxide, by a process that has changed little since the time of Davy.

The name potassium was made from the English word "potash," which originally meant an alkali extracted in water in a pot of ash of burnt wood or tree leaves.

Like other alkali metals, potassium has a single electron in its outermost shell, and it can readily lose this electron to become a positive ion.

On the other hand, some people with kidney disease are advised to avoid large quantities of dietary potassium.

Foods with high content of potassium include orange juice, avocados, celery, parsnips, and turnips, but it is also found in many other fruits, vegetables, and meats.

Thermal methods are also employed to obtain potassium from potassium chloride.

Potassium (chemical symbol K, atomic number 19) is a member of a group of chemical elements known as alkali metals.

The hydroxide of potassium is an important industrial chemical, and the chloride, sulfate, and carbonate are used in fertilizers.