Potassium and Iron - Comparison - Properties

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

potassium and iron - comparison

Compare potassium with another element

Compare iron with another element

Potassium and Iron – 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.

Iron

Iron is a metal in the first transition series. It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth’s outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust. Its abundance in rocky planets like Earth is due to its abundant production by fusion in high-mass stars.

Potassium in Periodic Table

Iron in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Potassium and Iron – 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.

Iron

Iron is used in numerous sectors such as electronics, manufacturing, automotive, and construction and building. Iron is the most widely used of all the metals, accounting for over 90% of worldwide metal produc0tion. Its low cost and high strength often make it the material of choice material to withstand stress or transmit forces, such as the construction of machinery and machine tools, rails, automobiles, ship hulls, concrete reinforcing bars, and the load-carrying framework of buildings. Since pure iron is quite soft, it is most commonly combined with alloying elements to make steel. Steels are iron–carbon alloys that may contain appreciable concentrations of other alloying elements. Adding a small amount of non-metallic carbon to iron trades its great ductility for the greater strength. Due to its very-high strength, but still substantial toughness, and its ability to be greatly altered by heat treatment, steel is one of the most useful and common ferrous alloy in modern use. There are thousands of alloys that have different compositions and/or heat treatments. The mechanical properties are sensitive to the content of carbon, which is normally less than 1.0 wt%.

Potassium and Iron – Comparison in Table

Element	Potassium	Iron
Density	0.856 g/cm3	7.874 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	540 MPa
Yield Strength	N/A	50 MPa
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	3.53 GPa	211 GPa
Mohs Scale	0.4	4.5
Brinell Hardness	0.36 MPa	490 MPa
Vickers Hardness	N/A	608 MPa
Melting Point	63.25 °C	1538 °C
Boiling Point	760 °C	2861 °C
Thermal Conductivity	102.4 W/mK	80.2 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	83 µm/mK	11.8 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.75 J/g K	0.44 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	2.334 kJ/mol	13.8 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	79.87 kJ/mol	349.6 kJ/mol