warrant. 1  authorization, sanction, or justification. 2  something that serves to give reliable or formal assurance of something; guarantee, pledge, or security. 3  something considered as having the force of a guarantee or as being positive assurance of a thing: The cavalry and artillery were considered sure warrants of success.
Potassium metal was discovered in 1807 in England by Sir Humphry Davy, who derived it from caustic potash (KOH), by the use of electrolysis of the molten salt with the newly discovered voltaic pile. Before the 18th century, no distinction was made between potassium and sodium.
The word potassium is derived from potash. Today, potash is produced worldwide at amounts exceeding 30 million tonnes per year, mostly for use in fertilizers. Various types of fertilizer-potash thus constitute the single largest global industrial use of the element potassium. Potassium was first derived by electrolysis of caustic potash (aka potassium hydroxide), in 1808.