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megalomania
June 19th, 2003, 11:21 PM
myoungbhs03
New Member
Posts: 4
From: West Virginia, US
Registered: MAY 2001
posted 06-11-2001 12:58 AM
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i am having trouble finding potassium nitrate but i found potassium is there anyway to convert it?
i hope no one has ask this before because i searched and i fear the criticism


-A-
Frequent Poster
Posts: 100
From:
Registered: JAN 2001
posted 06-11-2001 01:57 AM
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You found potassium but not potassium nitrate???. I must say that, at least for me, is the exact opposite.
Well, potassium nitrate is formed by the reaction of potassium with nitric acid.
K + HNO3 --> KNO3 + H (as H2)
But this reaction is far too dangerous and costly to make potassium nitrate in apreciable amounts.


ALENGOSVIG1
Moderator
Posts: 766
From: Vancouver, Canada
Registered: NOV 2000
posted 06-11-2001 04:10 AM
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I find that a good source for potassium nitrate is a hydroponics store. Underwater plant growing. Its very pure and it like $15.00 for 2.5 kg's.
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J
Moderator
Posts: 602
From: United Kingdom
Registered: SEP 2000
posted 06-11-2001 06:42 AM
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If you search the forum, you'll find ways to convert NH4NO3 to KNO3, as well as many other sources (garden centers etc) for it.
I personally wouldn't waste the K (and HNO3 for that matter) on this.

J

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Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2306
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted 06-11-2001 06:11 PM
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Mixing potassium with a very strong oxidiser like HNO3 has got to be asking for a very large explosion...
You could have only gotten K from a lab supplier and all lab suppliers carry KNO3, so are you sure its pure K and not a K compound?



CodeMason
Frequent Poster
Posts: 383
From: Your Nightmares
Registered: NOV 2000
posted 06-11-2001 06:22 PM
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Dude, I don't think he actually found K, I just think he found a bag of fertilizer that said "16% potassium" or thereabouts and he thought it meant elemental.


myoungbhs03
New Member
Posts: 4
From: West Virginia, US
Registered: MAY 2001
posted 06-13-2001 12:08 AM
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well i called walmart and i asked if they had potassium nitrate
they said that they only had potassium

is hydroponics the same as hydroseeding?



Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2306
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted 06-13-2001 08:29 PM
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They meant they have a fertiliser that contains a large number of potassium atoms, these atoms are however compounded, so it could one of many potassium compounds. Although KNO3 is said to be the fertiliser with the highest amounts of potassium, so it *could* be KNO3 but it probably isn't because places like Wal*Mart usually sell useless shit.

yt2095
June 20th, 2003, 10:03 AM
dissolve some and test with litmus, if it goes blue, it could also contain Potassium carbonate.
all`s not lost tho as i use K2CO3 for sodium conversion in Chlorates and Nitrates.
the litmus test however isn`t a YES if it`s blue, it`ll only be a NO if stays same or goes red )unless countered in solution by something equaly acidic) but that would cause a reaction anyway, and so no.

i`de lay wager that wal-mart does not stock Potassium (if it did, i`ll consider immigrating) :)

see if you can get hold off "nitrate of potash"
at a push "nitrate of soda" but you`ll need to convert the soda nitrate later (time consuming but worth it if you have no other way)

a good thing to look for on these bags in the fertiliser dept, is something called the N-P-K ratios
Nirogen Phosphorous Potassium

try and keep the middle number as low as possible 0 would be ideal!

if the N and K numbers are both similar then that will be a good source of your potassium nitrate :)

if the N is much much higher or even 99-0-0 than you`ve got AN :) worth buying just to keep till you need it (just in case they decide to ban that too)

if you do a search on here, the NPK is much better explained than i can possible hope to in one post!

all the best :)