Potassium nitrate
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
Properties
|
General
|
| Name |
Potassium nitrate |
| Chemical formula |
KNO3 |
| Appearance |
White or dirty gray solid |
|
Physical
|
| Formula weight |
101.1 amu |
| Melting point |
607 K (334 °C) |
| Boiling point |
decomposes at 673 K (400 °C) |
| Density |
2.1 ×103 kg/m3 |
| Crystal structure |
Aragonite |
| Solubility |
38 g in 100g water |
|
Thermochemistry
|
| ΔfH0gas |
? kJ/mol |
| ΔfH0liquid |
-483 kJ/mol |
| ΔfH0solid |
-495 kJ/mol |
| S0gas, 1 bar |
? J/mol·K |
| S0liquid, 1 bar |
? J/mol·K |
| S0solid |
? J/mol·K |
|
Safety
|
| Ingestion |
May cause GI irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. |
| Inhalation |
Irritation, long term exposure may be fatal. |
| Skin |
Low hazard. |
| Eyes |
Low hazard. |
|
SI units were used where possible. Unless otherwise stated, standard conditions were used.
Disclaimer and references
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The chemical compound potassium nitrate is a naturally occurring mineral source of nitrogen. It is a nitrate with chemical formula KNO3.
Its common names include saltpetre (from Medieval Latin sal petrae: "stone salt" or possibly "salt of Petra"), American English saltpeter, Chilean saltpetre, and nitre.
The name saltpeter is also applied to sodium nitrate.
It is the oxidising (oxygen-supplying) component of gunpowder. Prior to the large-scale industrial fixation of nitrogen (the Haber process), a major source of Potassium nitrate was the deposits crystallising from cave walls or the drainings of decomposing organic material. Dung-heaps were a particularly common source: ammonia from the decomposition of urea and other nitrogenous materials would undergo bacterial oxidation to produce nitrate.
One of the most useful applications of potassium nitrate is in the production of nitric acid, by adding concentrated sulfuric acid to an aqueous solution of potassium nitrate, yielding nitric acid and potassium sulfate which are separated through fractional distillation.
Potassium nitrate is also used as a fertilizer, as a model rocket propellant, and for certain pyrotechnic combinations, like when potassium nitrate is mixed with fine sugar and ignited, they generate 600 times their own volume in smoke. In the process of food preservation, potassium nitrate is a common ingredient
of salted meat.
In England, the privilege of manufacturing explosives had been in the hands of the family of John Evelyn, the celebrated diarist, as a crown monopoly since before 1588.
Related Material
de:Kaliumnitrat
nl:Kaliumnitraat
pl:Azotan potasu
