The difference between potassium and sodium was not discovered until the 18th century. "Vegetable alkali" also known as potassium carbonate came from the earth. "Mineral alkali" also known as sodium carbonate came from wood ashes. Early chemists did not recognise that these were two different chemical compounds.
Sir Humphry Davy discovered potassium in 1807 in England, by isolating it using electrolysis. Potassium was the first metal to be isolated by using electrolysis. The name potassium originated from the English word "potash" meaning pot ashes and the Arabic word "qali" meaning alkali. This was because potassium was originally obtained by soaking wood ashes in water and then evaporating the mixture in an iron pot. The origin of the elements symbol “K” comes from the Latin word "kalium" meaning potassium. Potassium used to be called kalium, so the element symbol is 'K'.
Potassium is an "Alkali Metal," and a solid element. Alkali Metals are very reactive metals that do not occur freely in nature. They are are soft, malleable, and good conductors of heat and electricity. It is the 19th element on the periodic table, and located in group 1, period 4.
Potassium is very reactive, and is never found free in nature. It is the eighth most abundant element on earth, and makes up about 2.1% of the earth's crust. Potassium is obtained from the minerals sylvite, carnallite, langbeinite, alunite, and polyhalite. These minerals are mainly found in sea beds and ancient lakes. Potassium is also found in caustic potash. Caustic potash is mainly mined in Germany, New Mexico, California and Utah. Annual world production of potassium is about 200 tons. Primary mining areas for Potassium are Germany, Spain, Canada, USA and Italy.
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...m in order to survive. Potassium is one of three primary nutrients required by plants.
Potassium works with sodium to aid in the digestion of food and in functioning of the eyes. People whose diets are low in potassium can develop hypokalemia, which in severe cases can be life threatening. Symptoms include irregular heartbeat, fatigue, muscle cramps and constipation. It is unusual for people to be deficient in potassium just because of getting too little of it in their diets, and usually is caused by other ongoing issues in the digestive system.
There are few uses for potassium as a pure element because of its highly reactive nature. When handled there must be full skin and eye protection, and in most cases a explosion-resistant barrier between the user and the metal. In the United States potassium chloride is used for executions by a lethal injection.
Aluminum is the third most abundant element and most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust. Aluminum is never found in the free element state in nature. It
Strontium was discovered by Adair Crawford, an Irish chemist, in 1790 while studying the mineral witherite (BaCO3). When he mixed witherite with hydrochloric acid (HCl), he did not get the results he expected. He assumed that his sample of witherite was contaminated with an unknown mineral, a mineral he named strontianite (SrCO3). Strontium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, in 1808 through the electrolysis of a mixture of strontium chloride (SrCl2) and mercuric oxide (HgO). Strontium reacts vigorously with water and quickly tarnishes in air, so it must be stored out of contact with air and water. Due to its extreme reactivity to air, this element always naturally occurs combined with other elements and compounds. Strontium is very
Just like many other scientific discoveries, the discovery and isolation of lithium was a group effort. In 1817, a Swedish scientist by the name of Johan Arfwedson was the first person to discover Lithium. While doing an analysis on the mineral petalite in 1817, Arfwedson found this soft, silver-white element. Jons Jakob Berzelius, another Swedish chemist, named the element the Greek name “lithos.” Later on, the element’s name was then changed to lithium. Although lithium had finally been discovered, none of the aforementioned scientists were able to isolate pure lithium without it being attached to its salts. It was not until 1821 when two English chemists by the names of Sir Humphrey Davy and William Thomas Brande isolated lithium by electrolyzing lithium oxide (LiO2).
Aluminum is the most abundant metallic constituent in the crust of the earth; only the nonmetals oxygen and silicon are more abundant. Aluminum is never found as a free metal; commonly as aluminum silicate or as a silicate of aluminum mixed with other metals such as sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, and magnesium. These silicates are not useful ores, for it is chemically difficult, and therefore an expensive process, to extract aluminum from them. bauxite an impure h...
Potassium (K+) is an important mineral the body needs to maintain and regulate many functions in the body. It is essential to life because it helps balance body water, regulate blood pressure, maintain heart function, and facilitate various cellular and tissue functions. Its function inside the cells is influenced by it positive electrical charge, which makes it a cation and an electrolyte, or a substance that regulates the flow of molecules, particularly water, across cell membranes.
Plants need a chlorophyll, light, clean air, carbon dioxide, water, nutrients, space, and time. Chlorophyll is a green pigment found inside the leaves; it allows for the absorption of light. Light provides warmth to a plant and can be used as a form of energy to facilitate the chemical reaction in photosynthesis. With a healthy environment made of clean air, it is easier for plants to take in light and the proper amount of carbon dioxide, a gas expelled from other organisms during cellular respiration. Water is crucial to survival.
Minerals play an important role in our day-to-day life but we often not contemplate how the minerals are obtained. Minerals are scattered all over the world just like any other resources. Due to the natural processes of magma flow, hydrothermal gradients, sedimentation, and evaporation, Minerals are concentrated in various areas of the Earth’s crust. Obtaining these minerals for human use involves four general steps:
Although it is colorless, it is characterized by its incredible red-orange and green spectral lines. A known property of rare gases, it is white and crystalline, with a cubic crystal structure that is face – centered (when solid). Krypton is not usually used to form compounds. However, some krypton compounds exist. Krypton is composed of thirty-six protons, meaning its atomic number is also thirty-six. It has a melting point of 115.79 K (Kelvin) and a boiling point of 119.93 K. This element is a non-metal and can be found in period 4, group 18 of the Periodic Table. Krypton has five stable isotopes and an oxidation state of 0. There are 33 known isotopes of Krypton with atomic mass numbers from 69 through 101. Naturally taking place, Krypton is made of six stable isotopes, two of which might theoretically be slightly radioactive, plus traces of radioisotopes that are produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. The element has a relative atomic mass of 83.798. Since krypton is in the far right row of the periodic table, its outer layer contains eight
Potassium is a solid silvery white element. It is soft and can be cut with a knife. Potassium is the least dense known metal, besides lithium. It is the seventh most abundant element. It makes up about 1.5% by weight of the earth's crust. It decomposes in water because of the hydrogen. It usually catches fire during reaction with water.
Tungsten is a naturally occurring element that generally occurs as a chemical compound, mainly within ores of wolframite and scheelite, and very rarely in a pure form. Colors range from shiny white to steel-gray, depending on its purity (3). The metal is known for being extremely ductile and as a good conductor of heat and electricity. With the highest melting point, near 3422 degrees Celsius, and the lowest vapor pressure of all the metals, tungsten has a widespread variety of uses, from the mining industry to the healthcare field (2, 3).
From the Greek word "lithos" meaning "stone", it was so named due to the fact that it was discovered from a mineral source; whereas the other two common Group 1 elements, Sodium and Potassium, were found in plant sources. Its symbol, Li, was taken directly from its name. Soon after stumbling upon Lithium, Arfvedson also found traces of the metal in the minerals Spodumene and Lepidolite. In 1818, C.G. Gmelin discovered that Lithium salts color flames a bright red. Neither, Gmelin or Arfvedson, however, were able to isolate the element itself from the Lithium salts. They both tried to reduce the oxide by heating it with Iron or Carbon, but neither met with the success of W.T. Brande and Sir Humphrey Davy. They managed to perform the first isolation of elemental Lithium by the electrolysis of Lithium oxide. Electrolysis is a chemical reaction, which is brought about by the passage of current from an external energy source such as a battery. In 1855, the scientists Bunsen and Mattiessen isolated larger quantities of the metal by electrolysis of Lithium chloride.
However, they also need many different minerals. salts, which help the plant to grow, make chlorophyll and. photosynthesis among other things. All green plants needed, in order of. importance, nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus,.
Used to make soap Ammonia NH3 Yes Alkali pH 10 The main active ingredient in household cleaning fluids Calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 No Base Slaked lime used in agriculture Aluminium hydroxide Al(OH)3 No Base Used in some indigestion tablets Acids and Alkalis Neutralisation Neutralisation is the reaction of an acid with a base or alkali until the solution is neutral (pH7). In neutralisation, the acid and base (or alkali) both lose their properties and the solution becomes neutral. A salt and water are formed. Neutralisation is used in the following everyday situations: * Farmers use an alkali called calcium hydroxide (slaked lime or lime). This is spread on the fields or ploughed ground.