Editing Potassium (section)

==Etymology==

The English name for the element ''potassium'' comes from the word ''[[potash]]'',<ref>{{cite journal|first=Humphry|last=Davy|title=On some new phenomena of chemical changes produced by electricity, in particular the decomposition of the fixed alkalies, and the exhibition of the new substances that constitute their bases; and on the general nature of alkaline bodies|page=32|year=1808|volume=98|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpwEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA32|doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0001|doi-access=free}}</ref> which refers to an early method of extracting various potassium salts: placing in a ''pot'' the ''ash'' of burnt wood or tree leaves, adding water, heating, and evaporating the solution. When [[Humphry Davy]] first isolated the pure element using [[electrolysis]] in 1807, he named it ''potassium'', which he derived from the word ''potash''.

The symbol ''K'' stems from ''kali'', itself from the root word ''[[alkali]]'', which in turn comes from {{langx|ar|القَلْيَه}} ''al-qalyah'' 'plant ashes'. In 1797, the German chemist [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth|Martin Klaproth]] discovered "potash" in the minerals [[leucite]] and [[lepidolite]], and realized that "potash" was not a product of plant growth but actually contained a new element, which he proposed calling ''kali''.<ref>Klaproth, M. (1797) "Nouvelles données relatives à l'histoire naturelle de l'alcali végétal" (New data regarding the natural history of the vegetable alkali), ''Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences et belles-lettres'' (Berlin), pp. 9–13 ; [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073704093;view=1up;seq=103 see p. 13.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124010707/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073704093;view=1up;seq=103 |date=2020-01-24 }} From p. 13: ''"Cet alcali ne pouvant donc plus être envisagé comme un produit de la végétation dans les plantes, occupe une place propre dans la série des substances primitivement simples du règne minéral, &I il devient nécessaire de lui assigner un nom, qui convienne mieux à sa nature.''<br />
''La dénomination de ''Potasche'' (potasse) que la nouvelle nomenclature françoise a consacrée comme nom de tout le genre, ne sauroit faire fortune auprès des chimistes allemands, qui sentent à quel point la dérivation étymologique en est vicieuse. Elle est prise en effet de ce qu'anciennement on se servoit pour la calcination des lessives concentrées des cendres, de pots de fer (''pott'' en dialecte de la Basse-Saxe) auxquels on a substitué depuis des fours à calciner.''<br />
''Je propose donc ici, de substituer aux mots usités jusqu'ici d'alcali des plantes, alcali végétal, potasse, &c. celui de ''kali'', & de revenir à l'ancienne dénomination de ''natron'', au lieu de dire alcali minéral, soude &c."''<br />
(This alkali [i.e., potash] — [which] therefore can no longer be viewed as a product of growth in plants — occupies a proper place in the originally simple series of the mineral realm, and it becomes necessary to assign it a name that is better suited to its nature.<br />
The name of "potash" (''potasse''), which the new French nomenclature has bestowed as the name of the entire species [i.e., substance], would not find acceptance among German chemists, who feel to some extent [that] the etymological derivation of it is faulty. Indeed, it is taken from [the vessels] that one formerly used for the roasting of washing powder concentrated from cinders: iron pots (''pott'' in the dialect of Lower Saxony), for which roasting ovens have been substituted since then.<br />
Thus I now propose to substitute for the until now common words of "plant alkali", "vegetable alkali", "potash", etc., that of ''kali'' ; and to return to the old name of ''natron'' instead of saying "mineral alkali", "soda", etc.)</ref> In 1807, Humphry Davy produced the element via electrolysis: in 1809, [[Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert]] proposed the name ''Kalium'' for Davy's "potassium".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Davy, Humphry |year=1809|title=Ueber einige neue Erscheinungen chemischer Veränderungen, welche durch die Electricität bewirkt werden; insbesondere über die Zersetzung der feuerbeständigen Alkalien, die Darstellung der neuen Körper, welche ihre Basen ausmachen, und die Natur der Alkalien überhaupt|trans-title=On some new phenomena of chemical changes that are achieved by electricity; particularly the decomposition of flame-resistant alkalis [i.e., alkalies that cannot be reduced to their base metals by flames], the preparation of new substances that constitute their [metallic] bases, and the nature of alkalies generally|journal=Annalen der Physik|volume=31|issue=2|pages=113–175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyswAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA157|quote=p. 157: In unserer deutschen Nomenclatur würde ich die Namen ''Kalium'' und ''Natronium'' vorschlagen, wenn man nicht lieber bei den von Herrn Erman gebrauchten und von mehreren angenommenen Benennungen ''Kali-Metalloid'' and ''Natron-Metalloid'', bis zur völligen Aufklärung der chemischen Natur dieser räthzelhaften Körper bleiben will. Oder vielleicht findet man es noch zweckmässiger fürs Erste zwei Klassen zu machen, ''Metalle'' und ''Metalloide'', und in die letztere ''Kalium'' und ''Natronium'' zu setzen. — Gilbert. (In our German nomenclature, I would suggest the names ''Kalium'' and ''Natronium'', if one would not rather continue with the appellations ''Kali-metalloid'' and ''Natron-metalloid'' which are used by Mr. Erman [i.e., German physics professor [[Paul Erman]] (1764–1851)] and accepted by several [people], until the complete clarification of the chemical nature of these puzzling substances. Or perhaps one finds it yet more advisable for the present to create two classes, ''metals'' and ''metalloids'', and to place ''Kalium'' and ''Natronium'' in the latter — Gilbert.)|bibcode=1809AnP....31..113D|doi=10.1002/andp.18090310202}}</ref> In 1814, the Swedish chemist [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Berzelius]] advocated the name ''kalium'' for potassium, with the chemical symbol ''K''.<ref>Berzelius, J. Jacob (1814) ''Försök, att, genom användandet af den electrokemiska theorien och de kemiska proportionerna, grundlägga ett rent vettenskapligt system för mineralogien'' [Attempt, by the use of electrochemical theory and chemical proportions, to found a pure scientific system for mineralogy]. Stockholm, Sweden: A. Gadelius., [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_Uw0-AAAAcAAJ#page/n91/mode/2up p. 87.]</ref>

The English and French-speaking countries adopted the name ''Potassium'', which was favored by Davy and French chemists [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] and [[Louis Jacques Thénard]], whereas the other Germanic countries adopted Gilbert and Klaproth's name ''Kalium''.<ref>[http://www.vanderkrogt.net/elements/element.php?sym=K 19. Kalium (Potassium) – Elementymology & Elements Multidict] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218230851/http://vanderkrogt.net/elements/element.php?sym=K |date=2019-02-18 }}. vanderkrogt.net</ref> The "Gold Book" of the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] has designated the official chemical symbol as '''K'''.<ref>McNaught, A. D. and Wilkinson,A. eds. (1997). ''Compendium of Chemical Terminology'', 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). IUPAC. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.</ref>