Fast Facts#4: Chemical Properties of Potassium Since potassium only has one valence electron and four main energy levels, it is close to achieving stability and highly reactive, just like the other alkali metals. Weve covered physical descriptions of potassium in previous Fast Facts posts, so now its time to discover how potassium reacts with some other substances! 1. Water - Potassium reacts violently with water to form an alkali and thus releases hydrogen as well. Potassium will float on the water, will move about quickly with a hissing sound, gives off a small lilac flame, and will produce an explosion. Products of this reaction include KOH and H2. Check out this video for the reaction: youtube/watch?v=Jy1DC6Euqj4. Dont try this at home! 2. Oxygen (Air) - Potassium rapidly oxidizes in air, so it must be stored in oil to prevent this reaction from happening. Potassium can burn readily even with gentle heating. An orange powder is produced in the process. 3. Sodium Alloys - Potassium is used in alloys along with sodium as a cooling agent in nuclear reactors. More on its applications later! 4. Acids and Other Non-Metals - Potassium reacts explosively with acids and other non-metals. Some examples of potassium reacting with acids are its reactions with dilute hydrochloric acid, dilute sulphuric acid, and dilute nitric acid to form potassium chloride, potassium sulphate, and potassium nitrate. All of these reactions also release hydrogen gas. Here is a video of potassium reacting with hydrochloric acid: youtube/watch?v=53T5WZHQ_Ck. Again, do not try this at home or without the supervision of a professional! Relation to my life: I think that I also tend to react strongly with certain people in my life, meaning those friends and people whom I easily bond and cooperate with. Once we collaborate, especially for projects and the like, we are very productive and can generate great output in terms of academics and extra-curricular events. All information is from sciencepark.etacude/lzone/reactivity/K.php and elementalmatter.info/potassium-properties.htm.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:58:20 +0000
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