Telling the difference between Ammonium Nitrate and Potasium Nitrate.

[Teck]

Theres some fertilizer on this farm, its prilled some of it is yellow and some of it is white I asked the guys there what kind of fertilizer it is they're like, "I don't know its just regular fertilizer." Its in white unlabeled bags, so I'm guessing they got it from an elevator. So my question is how can I tell weather its potassium nitrate or ammonium nitrate fertilizer. I'm sure its pretty pure other then it might be coated.

[Mr Cool]

Are you sure it is NH4NO3 or KNO3?
If it is either of those two but nothing else, take some home and heat a bit on a spoon. NH4NO3 will decompose leaving no residue (maybe some from the coating or impurities), KNO3 will leave a substantial amount of residue.

[Anthony]

Considering the circumstances it's much more likely to be NH4NO3 (if it can only be one or the other).

NH4NO3 is a lot more soluble than KNO3, it also gets cold when water is added to it. KNO3 should also burn with a purple flame when mixed with fuel, although any small sodium impurity would through this test off (yellow flame instead).

[Berserker]

Just mix it with sugar and burn it. If it smells of ammonia, has wimply flames, crackles, burns -very- slowly, and makes HEAPS of smoke, it's probably (mostly) AN, but if it makes huge bright purple/orange/yellow flames and quite a lot of smoke, then it's most likely KNO₃.

[DarkAngel]

Like Mr Cool said,putt some on a spoon and heat if it's NH4NO3 it will melt very short after you hold it above the fire,when it's melted remove the spoon from the fire and you see smoke comming of.

Another thing is to disolve as much of fertillizer as you can and soak some toilet paper in it and let it dry,if it's NH4NO3 it will burn very slowly.
But with KNO3 it will burn much faster.

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ÐarkAngel

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[Rhadon]

Just add NaOH to your substance and moisten it a bit - if the substance is ammonium nitrate NH3 gas will be released.

[Teck]

Thanks everyone