Potassium and Zinc - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of potassium and zinc, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Potassium vs Zinc.

potassium and zinc - comparison

Compare potassium with another element

Compare zinc with another element

Potassium and Zinc – About Elements

Potassium

Potassium 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. Naturally occurring potassium is composed of three isotopes, of which 40K is radioactive. Traces of 40K are found in all potassium, and it is the most common radioisotope in the human body.

Zinc

In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn2+ and Mg2+ ions are of similar size.

Potassium in Periodic Table

Zinc in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Potassium and Zinc – Applications

Potassium

Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient for plant growth. It’s classified as a macronutrient because plants take up large quantities of K during their life cycle. Agricultural fertilizers consume 95% of global potassium chemical production, and about 90% of this potassium is supplied as KCl. Due to its high degree of reactivity, pure potassium is rarely used in its elemental /metallic form. It is used as a powerful reducing agent in organic chemistry. Potassium/Sodium alloys are It used as a heat exchange medium . The heat in the potassium warms water and makes it hot enough to boil. Then water is changed into steam, which is used to work devices that generate electricity.

Zinc

Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of iron (hot-dip galvanizing) is the major application for zinc. Coating of steel constitutes the largest single use of zinc, but it is used in large tonnages in zinc alloy castings, as zinc dust and oxide, and in wrought zinc products. Galvanized steel is just plain carbon steel that has been coated with a thin zinc layer. The zinc protects iron by corroding first, but zinc corrodes at much lower rates than do steel. Other applications are in electrical batteries, small non-structural castings, and alloys such as brass. A variety of zinc compounds are commonly used, such as zinc carbonate and zinc gluconate (as dietary supplements), zinc chloride (in deodorants), zinc pyrithione (anti-dandruff shampoos), zinc sulfide (in luminescent paints), and dimethylzinc or diethylzinc in the organic laboratory. A key part of the modern materials world in which zinc finds itself is recycling. Zinc, in common with all metals (and unlike synthetic materials) can be recycled indefinitely without degradation.

Potassium and Zinc – Comparison in Table

Element	Potassium	Zinc
Density	0.856 g/cm3	7.14 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	90 MPa
Yield Strength	N/A	75 MPa
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	3.53 GPa	108 GPa
Mohs Scale	0.4	2.5
Brinell Hardness	0.36 MPa	330 MPa
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	63.25 °C	419.53 °C
Boiling Point	760 °C	907 °C
Thermal Conductivity	102.4 W/mK	116 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	83 µm/mK	30.2 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.75 J/g K	0.39 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	2.334 kJ/mol	7.322 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	79.87 kJ/mol	115.3 kJ/mol