Potassium: Difference between revisions

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The English name for the element ''potassium'' comes from the word ''[[potash]]'', which refers to an early method of extracting various potassium salts: placing in a ''pot'' the ''ash'' of burnt wood or tree leaves, adding water, heating, and evaporating the solution. When [[Humphry Davy]] first isolated the pure element using [[electrolysis]] in 1807, he named it ''potassium'', which he derived from the word ''potash''.

The symbol ''K'' stems from ''kali'', itself from the root word ''[[alkali]]'', which in turn comes from {{lang-ar|القَلْيَه}} ''al-qalyah'' 'plant ashes'. In 1797, the German chemist [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth|Martin Klaproth]] discovered "potash" in the minerals [[leucite]] and [[lepidolite]], and realized that "potash" was not a product of plant growth but actually contained a new element, which he proposed calling ''kali''. In 1807, Humphry Davy produced the element via electrolysis: in 1809, [[Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert]] proposed the name ''Kalium'' for Davy's "potassium".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Davy, Humphry |year=1809|title=Ueber einige neue Erscheinungen chemischer Veränderungen, welche durch die Electricität bewirkt werden; insbesondere über die Zersetzung der feuerbeständigen Alkalien, die Darstellung der neuen Körper, welche ihre Basen ausmachen, und die Natur der Alkalien überhaupt|trans-title=On some new phenomena of chemical changes that are achieved by electricity; particularly the decomposition of flame-resistant alkalis [i.e., alkalies that cannot be reduced to their base metals by flames], the preparation of new substances that constitute their [metallic] bases, and the nature of alkalies generally|journal=Annalen der Physik|volume=31|issue=2|pages=113–175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyswAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA157|quote=p. 157: In unserer deutschen Nomenclatur würde ich die Namen ''Kalium'' und ''Natronium'' vorschlagen, wenn man nicht lieber bei den von Herrn Erman gebrauchten und von mehreren angenommenen Benennungen ''Kali-Metalloid'' and ''Natron-Metalloid'', bis zur völligen Aufklärung der chemischen Natur dieser räthzelhaften Körper bleiben will. Oder vielleicht findet man es noch zweckmässiger fürs Erste zwei Klassen zu machen, ''Metalle'' und ''Metalloide'', und in die letztere ''Kalium'' und ''Natronium'' zu setzen. — Gilbert. (In our German nomenclature, I would suggest the names ''Kalium'' and ''Natronium'', if one would not rather continue with the appellations ''Kali-metalloid'' and ''Natron-metalloid'' which are used by Mr. Erman [i.e., German physics professor [[Paul Erman]] (1764–1851)] and accepted by several [people], until the complete clarification of the chemical nature of these puzzling substances. Or perhaps one finds it yet more advisable for the present to create two classes, ''metals'' and ''metalloids'', and to place ''Kalium'' and ''Natronium'' in the latter — Gilbert.)|bibcode=1809AnP....31..113D|doi=10.1002/andp.18090310202}}</ref> In 1814, the Swedish chemist [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Berzelius]] advocated the name ''kalium'' for potassium, with the chemical symbol ''K''.

The symbol ''K'' stems from ''kali'', itself from the root word ''[[alkali]]'', which in turn comes from {{lang-ar|القَلْيَه}} ''al-qalyah'' 'plant ashes'. In 1797, the German chemist [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth|Martin Klaproth]] discovered "potash" in the minerals [[leucite]] and [[lepidolite]], and realized that "potash" was not a product of plant growth but actually contained a new element, which he proposed calling ''kali''. In 1807, Humphry Davy produced the element via electrolysis: in 1809, [[Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert]] proposed the name ''Kalium'' for Davy's "potassium". In 1814, the Swedish chemist [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Berzelius]] advocated the name ''kalium'' for potassium, with the chemical symbol ''K''.

The English and French-speaking countries adopted the name ''Potassium'', which was favored by Davy and French chemists [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] and [[Louis Jacques Thénard]], whereas the other Germanic countries adopted Gilbert and Klaproth's name ''Kalium''. The "Gold Book" of the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] has designated the official chemical symbol as '''K'''.

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 The English name for the element ''potassium'' comes from the word ''[[potash]]'', which refers to an early method of extracting various potassium salts: placing in a ''pot'' the ''ash'' of burnt wood or tree leaves, adding water, heating, and evaporating the solution. When [[Humphry Davy]] first isolated the pure element using [[electrolysis]] in 1807, he named it ''potassium'', which he derived from the word ''potash''.
-The symbol ''K'' stems from ''kali'', itself from the root word ''[[alkali]]'', which in turn comes from {{lang-ar|القَلْيَه}} ''al-qalyah'' 'plant ashes'. In 1797, the German chemist [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth|Martin Klaproth]] discovered "potash" in the minerals [[leucite]] and [[lepidolite]], and realized that "potash" was not a product of plant growth but actually contained a new element, which he proposed calling ''kali''. In 1807, Humphry Davy produced the element via electrolysis: in 1809, [[Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert]] proposed the name ''Kalium'' for Davy's "potassium".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Davy, Humphry |year=1809|title=Ueber einige neue Erscheinungen chemischer Veränderungen, welche durch die Electricität bewirkt werden; insbesondere über die Zersetzung der feuerbeständigen Alkalien, die Darstellung der neuen Körper, welche ihre Basen ausmachen, und die Natur der Alkalien überhaupt|trans-title=On some new phenomena of chemical changes that are achieved by electricity; particularly the decomposition of flame-resistant alkalis [i.e., alkalies that cannot be reduced to their base metals by flames], the preparation of new substances that constitute their [metallic] bases, and the nature of alkalies generally|journal=Annalen der Physik|volume=31|issue=2|pages=113–175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyswAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA157|quote=p. 157: In unserer deutschen Nomenclatur würde ich die Namen ''Kalium'' und ''Natronium'' vorschlagen, wenn man nicht lieber bei den von Herrn Erman gebrauchten und von mehreren angenommenen Benennungen ''Kali-Metalloid'' and ''Natron-Metalloid'', bis zur völligen Aufklärung der chemischen Natur dieser räthzelhaften Körper bleiben will. Oder vielleicht findet man es noch zweckmässiger fürs Erste zwei Klassen zu machen, ''Metalle'' und ''Metalloide'', und in die letztere ''Kalium'' und ''Natronium'' zu setzen. — Gilbert. (In our German nomenclature, I would suggest the names ''Kalium'' and ''Natronium'', if one would not rather continue with the appellations ''Kali-metalloid'' and ''Natron-metalloid'' which are used by Mr. Erman [i.e., German physics professor [[Paul Erman]] (1764–1851)] and accepted by several [people], until the complete clarification of the chemical nature of these puzzling substances. Or perhaps one finds it yet more advisable for the present to create two classes, ''metals'' and ''metalloids'', and to place ''Kalium'' and ''Natronium'' in the latter — Gilbert.)|bibcode=1809AnP....31..113D|doi=10.1002/andp.18090310202}}</ref> In 1814, the Swedish chemist [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Berzelius]] advocated the name ''kalium'' for potassium, with the chemical symbol ''K''.
+The symbol ''K'' stems from ''kali'', itself from the root word ''[[alkali]]'', which in turn comes from {{lang-ar|القَلْيَه}} ''al-qalyah'' 'plant ashes'. In 1797, the German chemist [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth|Martin Klaproth]] discovered "potash" in the minerals [[leucite]] and [[lepidolite]], and realized that "potash" was not a product of plant growth but actually contained a new element, which he proposed calling ''kali''. In 1807, Humphry Davy produced the element via electrolysis: in 1809, [[Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert]] proposed the name ''Kalium'' for Davy's "potassium". In 1814, the Swedish chemist [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Berzelius]] advocated the name ''kalium'' for potassium, with the chemical symbol ''K''.
 The English and French-speaking countries adopted the name ''Potassium'', which was favored by Davy and French chemists [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] and [[Louis Jacques Thénard]], whereas the other Germanic countries adopted Gilbert and Klaproth's name ''Kalium''. The "Gold Book" of the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] has designated the official chemical symbol as '''K'''.