potassium nitrate
2
4.7
- noun
- /pəˈtæsiəm ˈnaɪtreɪt/
- Specialized
:
nitrato de potasio
- The salts, a mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate, are an extremely efficient heat transfer mechanism.
- potassium nitrate and sulfur
Gunpowder contains sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, nitrates.
- Gunpowder contains sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, nitrates.
Examples
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They had been pulled over for speeding, and the police found suspicious items in the car: PVC pipes filled with potassium nitrate.
Blog text (25) -
The granules of charcoal that I've got and these grains of potassium nitrate, even the sulfur, they're all a bit big.
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That's saltpeter, the natural form of potassium nitrate.
Fiction book (1996) -
And just to remind you... this is using only the chemicals that Kirk had on the planet, which were potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal.
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Gunpowder contains sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, nitrates.
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Now gunpowder is just a mixture of fuels, sulphur and charcoal and this source of oxygen, potassium nitrate, we call that an oxidiser.
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Potassium nitrate is commonly used in potassium nitrate fertilizers to promote plant growth.
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Farmers often apply potassium nitrate to their crops to enhance yield and quality.
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Potassium nitrate, an essential ingredient in explosives, plays a crucial role in pyrotechnics.
Synonyms
6
8.6
A white mineral that farmers use in fertilizers, to preserve meat, and to make gunpowder
A white crystal used as a fertilizer and to make gunpowder
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is a straightforward chemical compound name composed compositionally from 'potassium' (the element) and 'nitrate' (an NO3-containing salt), so the combined form denotes the salt potassium nitrate (KNO3). This follows standard chemical naming conventions found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Potassium nitrate gets its name from old white crystals called 'saltpetre' that people found on cave walls and in stables. Those crystals were used to make gunpowder and to help crops grow, and the name now means the white salt that joins potassium and nitrate and is used in fertilizers, explosives, and food preservation.