Potassium was the first metal to be isolated by electrolysis. In 1807 the English chemist Humphry Davy, working at the Royal Institution in London, passed a strong electric current through molten potash, which had long been extracted from wood ashes and used in soap and glass making, and obtained small silvery globules of the metal. According to the accounts of his assistants, Davy was so delighted that he danced about the room. The metal burns with a lilac flame and reacts violently with water. The name comes from potash, while the symbol K derives from kalium, a Latin form of the Arabic word for ashes. Potassium is vital to living cells and a main component of fertilizers.
Before and after
- 26 December 1806Battle of Pułtusk
- from 1807 to 1815Duchy of Warsaw
- from 1807 to 1814Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814
- 1807Discovery of sodium
- 1807Discovery of potassium
- 19 January 1807Birth of Robert E. Lee
- 25 March 1807Britain abolishes the slave trade
- 4 July 1807Birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi
- 7 July 1807Treaties of Tilsit
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.