Aluminium and Potassium - Comparison - Properties

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

magnesium and potassium - comparison

Compare aluminium with another element

Compare potassium with another element

Aluminium and Potassium – About Elements

Aluminium

Aluminium is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminium makes up about 8% of the Earth’s crust; it is the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon and the most abundant metal in the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below.

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.

Aluminium in Periodic Table

Potassium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Aluminium and Potassium – Applications

Aluminium

Aluminium and its alloys are used widely in aerospace, automotive, architectural, lithographic, packaging, electrical and electronic applications. It is the prime material of construction for the aircraft industry throughout most of its history. About 70% of commercial civil aircraft airframes are made from aluminium alloys, and without aluminium civil aviation would not be economically viable. Automotive industry now includes aluminium as engine castings, wheels, radiators and increasingly as body parts. 6111 aluminium and 2008 aluminium alloy are extensively used for external automotive body panels. Cylinder blocks and crankcases are often cast made of aluminium alloys.

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.

Aluminium and Potassium – Comparison in Table

Element	Aluminium	Potassium
Density	2.7 g/cm3	0.856 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	90 MPa (pure), 600 MPa (alloys)	N/A
Yield Strength	11 MPa (pure), 400 MPa (alloys)	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	70 GPa	3.53 GPa
Mohs Scale	2.8	0.4
Brinell Hardness	240 MPa	0.36 MPa
Vickers Hardness	167 MPa	N/A
Melting Point	660 °C	63.25 °C
Boiling Point	2467 °C	760 °C
Thermal Conductivity	237 W/mK	102.4 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	23.1 µm/mK	83 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.9 J/g K	0.75 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	10.79 kJ/mol	2.334 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	293.4 kJ/mol	79.87 kJ/mol