Concept
Potassium nitrate
Related concepts (23)
Molten salt
Molten salt is salt which is solid at standard temperature and pressure but has become liquid due to elevated temperature. Regular table salt has a melting point of 801 °C (1474 °F) and a heat of fusion of 520 J/g. A salt that is normally liquid even at standard temperature and pressure is usually called a room-temperature ionic liquid, and molten salts are technically a class of ionic liquids. Molten salts have a variety of uses. Molten chloride salt mixtures are commonly used as quenching baths for various alloy heat treatments, such as annealing and martempering of steel.
Potassium chlorate
Potassium chlorate is a compound containing potassium, chlorine and oxygen, with the molecular formula KClO3. In its pure form, it is a white crystalline substance. After sodium chlorate, it is the second most common chlorate in industrial use. It is a strong oxidizing agent and its most important application is in safety matches. In other applications it is mostly obsolete and has been replaced by safer alternatives in recent decades.
Magnesium nitrate
Magnesium nitrate refers to inorganic compounds with the formula Mg(NO3)2(H2O)x, where x = 6, 2, and 0. All are white solids. The anhydrous material is hygroscopic, quickly forming the hexahydrate upon standing in air. All of the salts are very soluble in both water and ethanol. Being highly water soluble, magnesium nitrate occurs naturally only in mines and caverns as nitromagnesite (hexahydrate form). The magnesium nitrate used in commerce is made by the reaction of nitric acid and various magnesium salts.