Characteristics of industrially produced Potassium Chlorate(For matchstick industries):
1. pH value 5-8
2. Moisture, percent by weight, Max. 0.05
3. Insoluble Matter, percent by weight, Max. 0.05
4. Chlorides(as Cl), percent by weight, Max. 0.10
5. Potassium Chlorate(as KClO3), percent by weight, Min. 99.25
6. Perchlorates(as KClO4), percent by weight, Max 0.15
7. Sulphates(as SO4), percent by weight, Max. 0.03
8. Bromates(as BrO3), percent by weight, Max. 0.15
9. Free from grit
I'm taking a stab at this, but I'm thinking hydrogen bonding, the chlorate ion is tetragonal pyriamidal with lone pair electrons and any absorbed water would dissolve some of the salt allowing for the chlorate ions to be involved in the bonding. Could also be recrystalization effects causing small crystals to grow/merge into larger ones.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Potassium-chlorate-composition.png/200px-Potassium-chlorate-composition.png
Dear Teodoro Kaufman and Antonio OfMatco, could anyone of you please tell me the reasons for its hygroscopic nature?
Is it possible that your potassium chlorate may contain small quantities of sodium chlorate...?
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Chemistry