Potassium

By

Leah Bode

Once upon a time, my very distant ancestors, the Salts settled in the sea waters. They formed massive concentrated beds of Potassium Salt over long periods of geologic time. You can still go visit some at varying depths in the Earth's crust around the world. I have visited many of my cousins at evaporating lakes and seas, for example, the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea. These deposits, or homes of my ancestors, were concentrated through natural processes as the Earth evolved into the Planet we inhabit today, in other words it was their fate to be where they are now. Nature recycled the Potassiums along with their friends, the other minerals, moving them from land to seas and oceans, then depositing them in salt beds as evaporation occurred. Now, those people called farmers are taking the next step in the recycling process, by moving us back to the soils from which we originally came, which is exactly what happened to me. But before I tell you about myself, I would like to explain to you more about the history of my ancestors.

Another line of ancestors, the Potashes, are actually a form of potassium fertilizer. Early American settlers coined their name. The Americans produced potassium carbonate which they needed for making soap by evaporating water filtered through wood ashes. The ash-like residue remaining in the large pots they called "pot ash". This process that my ancestors went through is registered as the first U.S. patent. Now to tell you about the present.

I'll start off with myself. I was first discovered by Humphrey Davy, an English chemist, in 1807. He obtained me from where I was hiding, with my buddy hydroxide. I have many different friends that I like to pair up with, though. Some of them are Chloride, Carbonate, Nitrate, Chlorate and many more. I like to do different things when I am with each one. For example, when I am with good old Chloride we like to go play in the dirt and serve as fertilizers. When I am hanging out with Carbonate we enjoy absorbing water and help with making glass and textile dyes. My favorite is chilling with Nitrate because we like to take part in fireworks and explosives. We even have a nickname, niter or saltpeter. Other things Nitrate and I like doing is preserving food and, of course, being fertilizers. Chlorate and I sometimes take part in the fireworks, explosives and matches, too. I have many more friendships that have many commercial uses. I can guarantee you when you find me I will always be with a friend because I am never alone. You can try to take me away from my friends but it is very difficult. I am not easily isolated.

But let's talk some more about myself. The ladies say I am soft, but I am a metal. My coloring is what I would call silver-white, unless I am exposed to air because then I will turn gray. I weigh about 39.0983 grams and I am ranked 19th in the periodic table. My family, or group in the periodic table, is Ia. I start boiling at 760*C, but I will melt at 63*C. I promise I don't ever smell! And I'll warn you know, don't EVER touch me when you are wet because I can be DANGEROUS!!! Because I don't care for either air or water I like to stay submerged in mineral oil.

If you ever need to find me, I will be... everywhere! You can find me in many silicate rocks and minerals. The seventh most abundant element in the Earth's crust is me! You can also find me in a human body for I am the third most abundant mineral nutrient in the human body, the other two being calcium and phosphorus. Nearly 90 percent of me in the body is found in major organs and tissues, including muscles, skin, and the digestive tract. When me and my buddy Sodium get together in a human body we have the job of transmitting electrochemical impulses in nerve and muscle fibers and in balancing the activity of food intake and waste removal from cells. One thing I don't like in the human body though is when they have high fevers, loss of body fluid, stress, shock or other trauma. When this occurs I leave, which isn't good for the human body. But many times the doctors force me back in by giving the humans potassium supplements to over come their loss of me. One other place you will find me would be in the ground helping plants to grow big, strong and healthy. Along with Nitrogen and Phosphate, I am one of the primary nutrients needed in large amounts for the growth of plant life.

My atomic weight of 39 grams is based upon one mole of me. A mole is equivalent to the number 6.02 x 10 . This number is also called Avagadro's number. The capital letter N is used to represent the Avagadro number. The reason Avagadro's number is so large is because the masses of atoms are so small.

Well, that's it! I have more to tell but I am already a little over two pages. I hope you enjoyed my story and give Leah a great grade!