Home > Potassium chloride
The chemical compound potassium chloride (KCl) is a metal halide which is used in medicine, scientific applications, food processing and in judicial execution through lethal injection. It occurs naturally as the mineral sylvite and in combination with sodium chloride as sylvinite .In a pure state it is a odourless, white to colourless vitreous crystal. It is a face-centred cubicIn mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. A crystal structure is composed of a unit cell a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, which is periodically repeated in three dimensions on a latti which cleaves easily in three directionThe term direction can be applied to various topics. For the management, supervision, or guidance of a film, see film director; For determination of position, see navigation, compass or left and right; also note that a direction may be shown by a vector;s; its physical properties include a densityFor other meanings of density, see density (disambiguation Density (symbol: rho Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. The higher an object's density, the higher its mass per volume. The average density of an object equals its total mass div of 1.987 g/cm3, a melting pointThe melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. When considered as the temperature of the reverse change, it is referred to as the freezing point . For example, the melting point of the element mercury is 23 of 776 °C, a boiling (sublimation) pointAlternate use: Boiling Point, English title of Kitano Takeshi's film 3-4X Jugatsu The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which it can change state from a liquid to a gas throughout the bulk of the liquid. A liquid may change to a gas at te of 1500 °C, and a molecular weight of 74.55. It is readily soluble in waterDrinking water This article focuses on water as we experience it every day. The water (molecule) article describes water from a scientific and technical perspective. Water is an abundant substance on Earth. It exists in many forms, such as sea, rain, and and insoluble or only slightly soluble in alcoholIn general usage, alcohol (from Arabic al-khwl , or al-ghawl ) refers almost always to ethanol, also known as grain alcohol and often to any beverage that contains ethanol (see alcoholic beverage . This sense underlies the term alcoholism ( addiction to as.
Potassium is vital in the human body and oral potassium chloride is the common means to replenish it, although it can also be diluted and given intravenously. Medically it is used in the treatment of hypokalemia and associated conditions, for digitalis poisoning, and as an electrolyte replenisher. Side effects can include gastrointestinal discomfort including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding of the gut. Overdoses cause hyperkalemia which can lead to paresthesia, cardiac conduction blocks, fibrillation and arrhythmias, also sclerotic effects.
Orally it is toxic, but the LD50 is around 2500 mg/kg. Intravenously this is reduced to just over 100 mg/kg but of more concern are its severe effects on cardiac muscles; high doses can cause cardiac arrest and rapid death. It is a by-product of the making of nitric acid from potassium nitrate and hydrochloric acid.
As sylvite it is commercially valuable as a source of potash (sometimes called muriate of potash) and of potassium for fertilizer. It is also extracted from salt water and can be manufactured by crystallization from solution, flotation or electrostatic separation from suitable minerals.
Chlorides
metal halides halides
Dietary minerals
Lethal injection
