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Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt-like taste. Potassium chloride can be obtained from ancient dried lake deposits. [7]
Most industrial applications of potassium exploit the high solubility of its compounds in water, such as saltwater soap. Heavy crop production rapidly depletes the soil of potassium, and this can be remedied with agricultural fertilizers containing potassium, accounting for 95% of global potassium chemical production. [14]
In chemistry, a salt or ionic compound is a chemical compound consisting of an assembly of positively charged ions and negatively charged ions , [1] which results in a compound with no net electric charge (electrically neutral). The constituent ions are held together by electrostatic forces termed ionic bonds.
Chlorine is a chemical element; it has symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them. Chlorine is a yellow-green gas at room temperature.
Potassium chlorate can react with sulfuric acid to form a highly reactive solution of chloric acid and potassium sulfate: 2 KClO 3 + H 2 SO 4 → 2 HClO 3 + K 2 SO 4 The solution so produced is sufficiently reactive that it spontaneously ignites if combustible material (sugar, paper, etc.) is present.
Chlorine can be further oxidized to other oxides and oxyanions including hypochlorite (ClO −, the active ingredient in chlorine bleach), chlorine dioxide (ClO 2), chlorate (ClO − 3), and perchlorate (ClO − 4). In terms of its acid–base properties, chloride is a weak base as indicated by the negative value of the pK a of hydrochloric
In ionic compounds, the oxidation numbers are the same as the element's ionic charge. Thus for KCl, potassium is assigned +1 and chlorine is assigned -1. [4] The complete set of rules for assigning oxidation numbers are discussed in the following sections. Oxidation numbers are fundamental to the chemical nomenclature of ionic
Its chemical properties as one of the alkali metals make it one of the most problematic of the short-to-medium-lifetime fission products because it easily moves and spreads in nature due to the high water solubility of its salts, and is taken up by the body, which mistakes it for its essential congeners sodium and potassium. [98]: 114