Sulfur and Potassium - Comparison - Properties

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

sulfur and potassium - comparison

Compare sulfur with another element

Compare potassium with another element

Sulfur and Potassium – About Elements

Sulfur

Sulfur is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur reacts with all elements except for gold, platinum, iridium, tellurium, and the noble gases.

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.

Phosphorus in Periodic Table

Potassium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Sulfur and Potassium – Applications

Sulfur

The greatest commercial use of the element is the production of sulfuric acid for sulfate and phosphate fertilizers, and other chemical processes. Sulfur is increasingly used as a component of fertilizers. The most important form of sulfur for fertilizer is the mineral calcium sulfate. The element sulfur is used in matches, insecticides, and fungicides. Many sulfur compounds are odoriferous, and the smells of odorized natural gas, skunk scent, grapefruit, and garlic are due to organosulfur compounds.

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.

Sulfur and Potassium – Comparison in Table

Element	Sulfur	Potassium
Density	1.823 g/cm3	0.856 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	N/A	3.53 GPa
Mohs Scale	0.5	0.4
Brinell Hardness	N/A	0.36 MPa
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	44.1 °C	63.25 °C
Boiling Point	280 °C	760 °C
Thermal Conductivity	0.235 W/mK	102.4 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	N/A	83 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.77 J/g K	0.75 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	0.657 kJ/mol	2.334 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	51.9 kJ/mol	79.87 kJ/mol