Saltpeter

2D structure of saltpeter.

Potassium nitrate sample

a piece of niter collected in Tarapaca, Chile

Potassium nitrate, also known as saltpeter, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula KNO₃. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K⁺ and nitrate ions NO₃⁻, and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate. It is a source of nitrogen and it occurs in nature as a mineral, niter.

Production

Mineral Sources

Saltpeter minerals can be found in collected mineral deposits, and purified into usable saltpeter

Potassium Hydroxide & Ammonium Nitrate

Potassium Hydroxide & Nitric Acid

Potassium hydroxide can be used to neutralize nitric acid, producing aqueous saltpeter in the reaction below. Be sure to perform the reaction slowly, as it is highly exothermic.

KOH + HNO₃ → KNO₃ + H₂O

Uses

Major uses of potassium nitrate are in fertilizers, tree stump removal, rocket propellants and fireworks, and it is one of the major components of gunpowder.

Dependencies

• Potassium
• Nitrogen
• Oxygen
  • Potassium nitrate
    • Gunpowder

See also

• Fertilizer
• Chemical compounds

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Potassium_nitrate, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Niter, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).