Talk:Potassium nitrate
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[edit] Urban myth?
A popular 20th-century myth held that soldiers and sailors were secretly administered saltpetre in their rations,
- Popular in what culture, in what country(ies)? Mid 20th century? Early? Late? All through? Still popular? Gone forever? --Brion
- Every male who ever went to camp, prison, or the armed services has heard it. See urban legend at Snopes.com , also Straight Dope. The folk etymology is from my own data collecting, that is, the first time I ever heard it. Ortolan88
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- This is all very vague. the Snopes article cites a sweeping array of myths in many countries across several centuries involving various different chemicals; both cite much wider locations than just the military, and neither indicate any special affinity to the 20th century nor to the claimed folk etymology for that particular chemical in English. --Brion
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- It is a very common myth wherever there are more men than women. I have no idea how far it goes back, but I heard it in 1952 at Camp Dixie for Boys where a 13-year-old solemnly assured an amazed 12-year-old me that they put "soft peter" in the mashed potatoes "to make your peter soft". I have heard the saltpeter story many times since then and the "soft peter" explanation several times. I was never in the army or in prison, but I know people who were and they'd heard it too. If those other sources haven't come across it yet, shame on them. But wiki on and edit away everything you don't like. I'm just taking judicial notice of what's been put in front of me. Not all knowledge is in the books yet. I'm writing a book about words. How about this. I'll put the story in there and then when it is published we can cite my book. Ortolan88
It would be nice to know if there has been any peer-reviewed or other scientific research on whether potassium nitrate actually does result in impotence or lack of sexual desire. Ellsworth 18:32, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Name change
Reasons for name change: got tired of seeing broken "potassium nitrate" links, nicely dodges British vs American English issue for title, saltpetre can also refer to a few other nitrate salts, esp. sodium nitrate. -- User:Shimmin
[edit] Smoke
"When potassium nitrate is mixed with fine sugar and ignited, they generate 600 times their own mass in smoke." Is this right? If it is, then the other 599 times the mixture's mass would have to come from the ambient air. Should this say "600 times their own volume" instead? --Arteitle 12:00, Oct 25, 2004 (UTC)
- That should read volume. The point of using a solid oxidizer like nitrate is that you don't need the ambient air. Shimmin 12:54, Oct 25, 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Saltpetre in cooking?
Yes, I know nitrites are used, but look in old recipe books (19C, early 20C) and you'll find saltpeter also used. Or Google for it, as I did to confirm that I remembered correctly.
- One of the first scientifically formulated curing salts was a mixture of sodium chloride, nitrite, and nitrate. See Lloyd Hall. On the other hand, most older references to saltpeter could be referring to sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, or a mixture of the two. Shimmin 11:42, Sep 18, 2004 (UTC)
I have a copy here of Jane Grigson's English Food, and it seems to have saltpetre in half of the recipes. Well, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but saltpetre appears quite often. Is this potassium nitrate? Surely it's not sodium nitrate, judging by the noted side-effects of ingestion on that page. For instance, here's her list of ingredients for salt beef:
- 6lb silverside of beef
- 3oz dark brown sugar
- 1 heaped teaspoon saltpetre
- 4oz salt
- 1oz black peppercorns
- 1oz allspice berries
- 1oz juniper berries
Has anyone any idea what saltpetre is from this context? (And more to the point, where it can be obtained :-) Richard W.M. Jones 17:12, 6 August 2005 (UTC)
Saltpetre has three qualities in this instance: most important of all are the preservative qualities; additionally colour (maintains a shade of red in the meat) and taste - it acts as a flavour-enhancer with a slight metallic taste. As regards the obtainability, saltpetre is readily available at any decent butchers in Poland, although it is of little use beyond cooking, since it is mixed with salt to <5%. Greg Malewski
[edit] Laxative
Moved this text out of the article:
- It has also been used as laxative for animals (not 100% sure - someone check this please).
(added by User_talk:70.27.44.155) Richard W.M. Jones 08:41, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Use of salt petre in Belsen Concentration Camp
I have a general query about the use of salt petre in cooking. What purpose does it serve? While researching for other reasons I came across a reference to the NAZI's feeding it to the camp inmates in Bergen Belsen concentration camp, men and women during WWII. Since they were starving them anyway I was curious to find out why they might have done this. It does not seem possible that it was for health reasons. Helen Lewis
- Saltpetre in food preparation is used as a preservative. We have quite a number of reports of "The Nazis fed ... to the concentration camp inmates", and I am generally sceptical. It is always possible that this was an experiment to see what the effect would be (such experiment are quite well documented, and not simply in concentration camps); it is also possible that it is hyperbole. Saltpetre is not a particularly effective poison (although a camp guard might not realise that), and in any case would have been more useful as fertilizer. Physchim62 (talk) 14:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
The account I read of the NAZIS feeding salt peter to the camp inmates at Belsen concentration camp was a first hand account written at the time of the liberation of the camps by the British. In fact it said they fed them salt peter and turnips. Therefore I have no reason to disbelieve the account. Perhaps the explanation of experimentation is the most likely since the camp doctor is reported to have injected some inmates with benzine. Helen Lewis
[edit] use in salt bridges
needs to be added —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 211.28.198.238 (talk • contribs).
[edit] Italicising
Latin words should be italicised. Arun.fegade 16:56, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Merge?
No to merge. This is about the chemical and ist uses, niter is about the naturally occurring mineral. Keep as separate article. Vsmith 23:04, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Potassium nitrate (data page)
Could somebody who is familiar with the subject matter go to that page and see if there is any info that should be here? It was apparently created as an advertisement (that part of which has been removed), so if there's nothing of value there that isn't already here it should probably be deleted. Fightindaman 23:59, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Contradiction
The following two paragraphs would appear to contradict each other.
- The chemical compound potassium nitrate is a naturally occurring mineral source of nitrogen. It is a nitrate with chemical formula KNO3. When it burns, it shows a bright pink to purple color.
and
- Although potassium nitrate is used in gunpowder, by itself, potassium nitrate is not combustible or flammable.
exolon 23:44, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
- Having seen the data page, I would guess that KNO3 is combustible. Though it is probably much more flammable when mixed with other chemicals to make gunpowder proper, it is probably combustible to a degree by itself. Ourai т с 23:26, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
Pink to purple is the emission spectrum of the potassium, which is relatively weak and it washed out by the spectra of the colorants and fuels. Also, even if heated to the point of decomposition, potassium nitrate never "burns", since that is defined as the oxidation of a substance, and potassium nitrate is an oxidizing agent, meaning it undergoes reduction. bookwyrm404@gmail.com
[edit] Awnsering Questions
Pot Nitrate is used in cooking to add flavour, and also as a meat preservitive, but there are theorys that it may cause cancer, and the MSDS was not created as an advertisment, and everything that should be there is there, any other questions i will answer, and add to the MSDS, to the best of my knowledge—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Thechezman14 (talk • contribs) 09:51, 21 October 2006.
