Potassium Chloride

The chemical compound Potassium chloride (KCl) is a metal halide which is used in medicine, scientific applications, food processing and in judicial execution through lethal injection. It occurs naturally as the mineral sylvite and in combination with sodium chloride as sylvinite.

In a pure state it is a odourless, white to colourless vitreous crystal. It is a face-centred cubic which cleaves easily in three directions; its physical properties include a density of 1.987 g/cm³, a melting point of 776 °C, a boiling (sublimation) point of 1500 °C, and a molecular weight of 74.55. It is readily soluble in water and insoluble or only slightly soluble in alcohols.

Potassium is vital in the human body and oral potassium chloride is the common means to replenish it although it can also be diluted and given intravenously. Medically it is used in the treatment of hypokalemia and associated conditions, for digitalis poisoning, and as an electrolyte replenisher. Side effects can include gastrointestinal discomfort including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding of the gut. Overdoses cause hyperkalemia which can lead to paresthesia, cardiac conduction blocks, fibrillation and arrhythmias, also sclerotic effects.

Orally it is toxic, but the LD50 is around 2500 mg/kg. Intravenously this is reduced to just over 100 mg/kg but of more concern are its severe effects on cardiac muscles; high doses can cause cardiac arrest and rapid death.

As sylvite it is commercially valuable as a source of potash (sometimes called muriate of potash) and of potassium for fertilizer. It is also extracted from salt water and can be manufactured by crystallization from solution, flotation or electrostatic separation from suitable minerals.

Commercial Usage: Potassium Chloride

Domain	Title
References	The World Market for Potassium Chloride Fertilizers: A 2004 Global Trade Perspective (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Potassium chloride (potash) : environmental and technical information for problem spills (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Potassium Chloride

Modern Translation: Potassium Chloride

Language		Translations for "potassium chloride"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		klorkalium (chloride of potash, muriate of potash), kaliumklorid (chloride of potash, muriate of potash), kaliumchlorid, E508. (various references)

Dutch		kaliumchloride (chloride of potash, muriate of potash), E508, chloorpotas (chloride of potash, muriate of potash). (various references)

Finnish		kaliumkloridi (E508), E 508 (E508). (various references)

French		E508, chlorure de potassium (chloride of potash, muriate of potash), chlorure de potasse (chloride of potash, muriate of potash). (various references)

German		Kaliumchlorid (chloride of potash, E508, muriate of potash), E508 (E508), Chlorkalium (chloride of potash, muriate of potash). (various references)

Greek		Ε508 (E508), χλωριούχο κάλιο (chloride of potash, E508, muriate of potash). (various references)

Italian		E508 (E508), cloruro di potassio (chloride of potash, E508, muriate of potash). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		塩化カリウ� . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		え�"かカリウ� . (various references)

Pig Latin		otassiumpay oridechlay

Portuguese		E508 (E508), cloreto de potassa (chloride of potash, muriate of potash), cloreto de potássio (chloride of potash, E508, muriate of potash). (various references)

Russian		хлористый калий. (various references)

Spanish		E508 (E508), cloruro potásico (chloride of potash, E508, muriate of potash). (various references)

Swedish		kaliumklorid (E508), E 508 (E508). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings: Potassium Chloride

Anagrams: Potassium Chloride

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-d-e-h-i-i-l-m-o-o-p-r-s-s-t-u"
	-4 letters: heliotropisms, radiochemists.
	-5 letters: atmospherics, chiropodists, chromoplasts, comradeships, diaphoretics, diastrophism, discomposure, dissimulator, heliotropism, hospitalised, modularities, orthopaedics, osmolarities, pleochroisms, proctodaeums, radiochemist, schoolmaster, semitropical, sociopathies, uricotelisms, urolithiases.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Alternative Orthography: Potassium Chloride

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

50 6F 74 61 73 73 69 75 6D 43 68 6C 6F 72 69 64 65

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01010000 01101111 01110100 01100001 01110011 01110011 01101001 01110101 01101101 00100000 01000011 01101000 01101100 01101111 01110010 01101001 01100100 01100101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#80 &#111 &#116 &#97 &#115 &#115 &#105 &#117 &#109 &#32 &#67 &#104 &#108 &#111 &#114 &#105 &#100 &#101

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0050 006F 0074 0061 0073 0073 0069 0075 006D 0043 0068 006C 006F 0072 0069 0064 0065

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Domain	Definition
Health	Potassium chloride. A white crystal or crystalline powder used as an electrolyte replenisher, in the treatment of hypokalemia, in buffer solutions, and in fertilizers and explosives. (references)
Mining	See:sylvite. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expression	Frequency per Day
potassium chloride	172
potassium chloride side effects	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Misspellings
	"Potassium Chloride" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: pottasium chloride. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Potassium Chloride

Definition: Potassium Chloride