Sunday, November 25, 2012

Reactions to Reactions (23 Nov)


"Potassium Chlorate is a compound containing potassium, chlorine and oxygen. It is often used as a disinfectant and in fireworks and explosives. When potassium chlorate is heated to melting point, any item added to it will cause a rapid disintegration in the form of an explosion (as we see in the video above). The gas coming off the potassium chlorate is oxygen. Because of this, it is often used in airplanes, space stations, and submarines as a source for oxygen. A fire on the space station Mir was attributed to this substance."

So yeah its not exactly "everyday" but its not like Potassium Chlorate isn't rare either. You wont encounter this reaction everyday, but it may prove useful if you wake up in an action movie with no oxygen. In simple terms Potassium Chlorate will become unstable when melted, it will disintegrate with the addition of Sugar! And you know whats great the gas that is released is only O2. I think someone should care about this particular reaction because its part of our lives, it could easily look very harmful if you were on an airplane and you see stuff like this come out of a generator. Here is the reaction:

KClO3 + C6H1206 ----> KCl + CO2 + H20


No comments:

Post a Comment