Potassium

Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin kalium) and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.

Potassium and sodium are alkali metals and are chemically very similar. For this reason it took a long time before their salts were differentiated. They were suspected to be different elements within their salts after 1702, and this was proven in 1807 when potassium and sodium were individually isolated from different salts by electrolysis. Potassium in nature occurs only in ionic salts. As such, it is found dissolved in seawater (which is 0.04% potassium by weight), and as part of many minerals.

Most industrial chemical applications of potassium employ the relatively high solubility in water of potassium compounds, such as potassium soaps. Potassium metal has only a few special applications, being replaced in most chemical reactions with sodium metal.

Potassium ion is necessary for the function of all living cells. Potassium ion diffusion is a key mechanism in nerve transmission, and potassium depletion in animals, including humans, results in various cardiac dysfunctions. Potassium is found in especially high concentrations within plant cells, and in a mixed diet, it is mostly concentrated in fruits. The high concentration of potassium in plants, associated with comparatively low amounts of sodium there, historically resulted in potassium first being isolated from potash, the ashes of plants, giving the element its name. Heavy crop production rapidly depletes soils of potassium, and agricultural fertilizers consume 95% of global potassium chemical production