Potassium Potassium Potassium is a chemical element with symbol K (from Neo-Latin "kalium") and atomic number 19. It was first isolated from potash, the ashes of plants, from which its name derives. In the periodic table, potassium is one of the alkali metals. All of the alkali metals have a single valence electron in the outer electron shell, which is easily removed to create an ion with a positive charge – a cation, which combines with anions to form salts. Potassium in nature occurs only in ionic salts. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air
Potassium bisulfate bisulfate forms potassium pyrosulfate and water: Temperatures above 600 °C further decompose potassium bisulfate to potassium sulfate and sulfur trioxide: Aqueous solutions of potassium bisulfate behave as two separate, uncombined compounds, KSO and HSO. Adding ethanol to the solution precipitates out potassium sulfate. Potassium bisulfate is commonly used to prepare potassium bitartrate for winemaking. Potassium bisulfate is also used as a disintegrating agent in analytical chemistry or as a precursor to prepare potassium persulfate, a powerful oxidizing agent. Potassium bisulfate Potassium bisulfate, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KHSO and is the potassium acid salt of sulfuric acid.