Potassium 19 K 39.0983(1)   Switch element to... actinium aluminium aluminum americium antimony argon arsenic astatine barium berkelium beryllium bismuth bohrium boron bromine cadmium caesium calcium californium carbon cerium cesium chlorine chromium cobalt copper curium darmstadtium dubnium dysprosium einsteinium erbium europium fermium fluorine francium gadolinium gallium germanium gold hafnium hassium helium holmium hydrogen indium iodine iridium iron krypton lanthanum lawrencium lead lithium lutetium magnesium manganese meitnerium mendelevium mercury molybdenum neodymium neon neptunium nickel niobium nitrogen nobelium osmium oxygen palladium phosphorus platinum plutonium polonium potassium praseodymium promethium protactinium radium radon rhenium rhodium roentgenium rubidium ruthenium rutherfordium samarium scandium seaborgium selenium silicon silver sodium strontium sulfur sulphur tantalum technetium tellurium terbium thallium thorium thulium tin titanium tungsten ununbium ununhexium ununoctium ununpentium ununquadium ununtrium uranium vanadium xenon ytterbium yttrium zinc zirconium Go adjacent...   Na Mg   K Ca   Rb Sr

Compounds of potassium:

potassium (I) chloride

• Formula as commonly written: KCl
• Hill system formula: Cl₁K₁
• CAS registry number: [7447-40-7]
• Formula weight: 74.551
• Class: chloride

Synonyms

• potassium (I) chloride
• potassium chloride
• sylvite

Physical properties

• Colour: white
• Appearance: crystalline solid
• Melting point: 771°C
• Boiling point: 1500°C
• Density: 1988 kg m^-3

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Element analysis and oxidation numbers

Synthesis

One way to make potassium chloride is to react the hydroxide with hydrochloric acid. The resulting salt can then be purified by recrystallization. In practice however, potassium chloride is available in massive amounts in nature and can simply be recrystallized to recover it.

KOH(aq) + HCl(aq) → KCl(aq) + H₂O(l)

While not a normal route of preparation because of the expense, potassium metal reacts vigorously with all the halogens to form potassium halides. So, it burns with chlorine, Cl₂, to form potassium(I) chloride, KCl.

2K(s) + Cl₂(g) → 2KCl(s)

Solid state structure

• Geometry of potassium: 6 coordinate: octahedral
• Prototypical structure: NaCl (rock salt)

Isotope pattern

What follows is the calculated isotope pattern for the KCl unit with the most intense ion set to 100%.

Formula: K₁Cl₁

mass  %
74 100.0 __________________________________________________
75   0.0 
76  39.2 ____________________
77   0.0 
78   2.3 _

References

The data on these compounds pages are assembled and adapted from the primary literature and several other sources including the following.

• R.T. Sanderson in Chemical Periodicity, Reinhold, New York, USA, 1960.
• N.N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw in Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth, UK, 1997.
• F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo, and M. Bochmann, in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
• A.F. Trotman-Dickenson, (ed.) in Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1973.
• R.W.G. Wyckoff, in Crystal Structures, volume 1, Interscience, John Wiley & Sons, 1963.
• A.R.West in Basic solid state chemistry Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
• A.F. Wells in Structural inorganic chemistry, 4th edition, Oxford, UK, 1975.
• J.D.H. Donnay, (ed.) in Crystal data determinative tables, ACA monograph number 5, American Crystallographic Association, USA, 1963.
• D.R. Lide, (ed.) in Chemical Rubber Company handbook of chemistry and physics, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 77th edition, 1996.
• J.W. Mellor in A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry, volumes 1-16, Longmans, London, UK, 1922-1937.
• J.E. Macintyre (ed.) in Dictionary of inorganic compounds, volumes 1-3, Chapman & Hall, London, UK, 1992.

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