K Potassium – Element Information, Facts, Properties, Trends,Uses, Comparison with other elements

Potassium History

The element Potassium was discovered by Humphry Davy in year 1807 in United Kingdom . Potassium derived its name from New Latin potassa, 'potash' (kalium in Latin)

Potassium Presence: Abundance in Nature and Around Us

The table below shows the abundance of Potassium in Universe, Sun, Meteorites, Earth's Crust, Oceans and Human Body.

Crystal Structure of Potassium

The solid state structure of Potassium is Body Centered Cubic.

The Crystal structure can be described in terms of its unit Cell. The unit Cells repeats itself in three dimensional space to form the structure.

Unit Cell Parameters

The unit cell is represented in terms of its lattice parameters, which are the lengths of the cell edges Lattice Constants (a, b and c)

and the angles between them Lattice Angles (alpha, beta and gamma).

The positions of the atoms inside the unit cell are described by the set of atomic positions ( x_i, y_i, z_i) measured from a reference lattice point.

The symmetry properties of the crystal are described by the concept of space groups. All possible symmetric arrangements of particles in three-dimensional space are described by the 230 space groups (219 distinct types, or 230 if chiral copies are considered distinct.

Space Group Name	Im_ 3m
Space Group Number	229
Crystal Structure	Body Centered Cubic

Potassium Atomic and Orbital Properties

Potassium atoms have 19 electrons and the electronic shell structure is [2, 8, 8, 1] with Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers) ²S_1/2.

Atomic Number	19
Number of Electrons (with no charge)	19
Number of Protons	19
Mass Number	39
Number of Neutrons	20
Shell structure (Electrons per energy level)	[2, 8, 8, 1]
Electron Configuration	[Ar] 4s1
Valence Electrons	4s1
Oxidation State	-1 1
Atomic Term Symbol (Quantum Numbers)	2S1/2

Shell Structure of Potassium - Electrons per energy level

n		s	p	d	f
1	K	2
2	L	2	6
3	M	2	6
4	N	1

Ground State Electronic Configuration of Potassium - neutral Potassium atom

The ground state electronic configuration of Neutral Potassium atom is [Ar] 4s1. The portion of Potassium configuration that is equivalent to the noble gas of the preceding period, is abbreviated as [Ar]. For atoms with many electrons, this notation can become lengthy and so an abbreviated notation is used.This is important as it is the Valence electrons 4s1, electrons in the outermost shell that determine the chemical properties of the element.

Unabbreviated electronic configuration of neutral Potassium

Complete ground state electronic configuration for the Potassium atom, Unabbreviated electronic configuration

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s1

Atomic Structure of Potassium

Potassium atomic radius is 243 pm, while it's covalent radius is 196 pm.

Atomic Spectrum of Potassium

Potassium Chemical Properties: Potassium Ionization Energies and electron affinity

The electron affinity of Potassium is 48.4 kJ/mol

Ionization Energy of Potassium

Refer to table below for Ionization energies of Potassium

Potassium Physical Properties

Refer to below table for Potassium Physical Properties

Elastic Properties

Hardness of Potassium - Tests to Measure of Hardness of Element

Potassium Electrical Properties

Potassium is Conductor of electricity. Refer to table below for the Electrical properties of Potassium

Potassium Heat and Conduction Properties

Potassium Magnetic Properties

Optical Properties of Potassium

Acoustic Properties of Potassium

Potassium Thermal Properties - Enthalpies and thermodynamics

Refer to table below for Thermal properties of Potassium

Enthalpies of Potassium

Potassium Isotopes - Nuclear Properties of Potassium

Isotopes of rhodium. Naturally occurring Potassium has 2 stable isotope - 39K, 41K.

Regulatory and Health - Health and Safety Parameters and Guidelines

Database Search

List of unique identifiers to search the element in various chemical registry databases