Sodium nitrate

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Sodium nitrate

Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a Chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical element Chemical bond together in a fixed mass ratio that can be split into simpler substances....
with the formula

Chemical formula

A chemical formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, and how the relationship between those atoms changes in chemical reactions....
NaNO₃. This salt, also known as "Chile saltpeter" or "Peru saltpeter" (to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate

Potassium nitrate

Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula PotassiumNitrogenOxygen3. A naturally occurring mineral source of nitrogen, KNO3 constitutes a critical oxidation component of black powder/gunpowder....
), is a white solid which is very soluble in water

Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
. The mineral form is also known as nitratine
Nitratine

Nitratine, also known as cubic niter , soda niter or Chile saltpeter , is a mineral, the naturally occurring form of sodium nitrate, NaNO3....
or soda nitre.

Sodium nitrate is used as an ingredient in fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves....
s, pyrotechnics, as a food preservative, and as a solid rocket propellant

Rocket propellant

Rocket propellant is mass that is stored, usually in some form of propellant tank, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid Jet to produce thrust....
, as well as in glass

Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
and pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries....
enamel

Enamel

Enamel may refer to:* Tooth enamel, the hard mineralized surface of teeth* Vitreous enamel, a smooth, durable coating made of melted and fused glass powder...
s; the compound has been mined extensively for those purposes.

The mining of Chile saltpeter was such a profitable business that three nations, Chile

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, and Bolivia

Bolivia

The Republic of Bolivia , named after Sim?n Bol?var, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west....
fought over the richest deposits in the War of the Pacific

War of the Pacific

The War of the Pacific, occurring from 1879-1883, was a conflict between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru. Also known as the "Sodium nitrate War", the war arose from disputes over the control of territory that contained substantial mineral-rich deposits....
.

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Encyclopedia

Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound

Chemical compound

Chemical formula

Potassium nitrate

Water

Fertilizer

Rocket propellant

Glass

Pottery

Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries....
enamel

Enamel

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
, Peru

Peru

Bolivia

War of the Pacific

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
, and many deposits were mined for over a century, until the 1940s, when its value declined dramatically in the first decades of the twentieth century (see Haber Process

Haber process

The Haber process, also called the Haber?Bosch process, is the nitrogen fixation reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen, over an enriched iron Catalysis, to produce ammonia....
).

Chile still has the largest reserves of caliche, with active mines in such locations as Pedro de Valdivia, Maria Elena and Pampa Blanca. Sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate

Potassium nitrate

Sodium sulfate

Sodium sulfate is the sodium salt of sulfuric acid. Anhydrous, it is a white crystalline solid of formula Na2SO4 known as the mineral thenardite; the hydrate Na2SO4?10H2O has been known as Glauber's salt or, historically, sal mirabilis since the 17th century....
and iodine

Iodine

Iodine , is a chemical element that has the symbol I and atomic number 53. Naturally-occurring iodine is a single isotope with 74 neutrons....
are all obtained by the processing of caliche. The former Chilean saltpeter mining communities of Humberstone and Santa Laura

Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works

Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works are two former Potassium nitrate refineries located in northern Chile. They were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005....
were declared Unesco World Heritage sites in 2005.

Sodium nitrate is also synthesized industrially by neutralizing nitric acid

Nitric acid

Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosion and toxic strong acid that can cause severe burns....
with soda ash

Sodium carbonate

Sodium carbonate , , is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily efflorescence to form a white powder, the monohydrate....
.

Applications

Sodium nitrate was used extensively as a fertilizer and a raw material for the manufacture of gunpowder in the late nineteenth century.

Sodium nitrate has antimicrobial

Antimicrobial

An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, protozoals or viruses. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes ....
properties when used as a food preservative. It is found naturally in leafy green vegetables.

Sodium nitrate should not be confused with the related compound, sodium nitrite

Sodium nitrite

Sodium nitrite, with chemical formula SodiumNitrogenOxygen2, is used as a colour retention agent and preservative in meats and fish....
.

It can be used in the production of nitric acid

Nitric acid

Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosion and toxic strong acid that can cause severe burns....
by combining it with sulfuric acid

Sulfuric acid

Sulfuric acid, hydrogen2sulfuroxygen4, is a strong mineral acid. It is soluble in water at all concentrations. Sulfuric acid has many applications, and is one of the top products of the chemical industry....
and subsequent separation through fractional distillation

Fractional distillation

Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions, such as in separating chemical compound by their boiling point by heating them to a temperature at which several fractions of the compound will evaporate....
of the nitric acid, leaving behind a residue of sodium bisulfate

Sodium bisulfate

Sodium bisulfate, also sodium hydrogen sulfate, has the chemical formula NaHSO4. The anhydrous form is hygroscopic. Its melting point is poorly defined because it begins to decompose into sodium pyrosulfate and water before it reaches its melting points....
. Hobbyist gold refiners use sodium nitrate to make a hybrid aqua regia

Aqua regia

Aqua regia is a highly corrosive, fuming yellow or red solution. The mixture is formed by freshly mixing concentrated nitric acid and concentrated hydrochloric acid, usually in a volumetric ratio of 1:3 respectively....
that dissolves gold and other metals.

Less common applications include its use as a substitute oxidizer used in fireworks as a replacement for potassium nitrate

Potassium nitrate

Phase Change Material

A phase change material is a substance with a high heat of fusion which, melting and solidifying at a certain temperature, is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of energy....
it may be used for heat transfer

Heat transfer

Heat transfer is the transition of thermal energy or simply heat from a hotter object to a cooler object . When an object or fluid is at a different temperature than its thermodynamic system or another object, transfer of thermal energy, also known as heat transfer, or heat exchange, occurs in such a way that the body and the surround...
in solar power

Solar power

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient history using a range of ever-evolving technologies....
plants.

External links

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (public domain)

Sodium nitrate

Applications

Further reading

External links