NEET PG DENTAL EXAM

Detailed explanation-1: -The word potassium stems from the English “pot ash, ‘’ which was used to isolate potassium salts. We get K from the name kalium, given by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, which stemmed from alkali, which stemmed from the Arabic al-qalyah, or “plant ashes.”

Detailed explanation-2: -Many of the symbols are the first one or two letters of the element’s name in English. Other symbols have been taken from the names of elements in Latin, German or Greek. For example, the symbol of iron is Fe from its Latin name Ferrum, sodium is Na from Natrium, and potassium is K from Kalium.

Detailed explanation-3: -Potassium – Kalium (K) ‘Kalium’ is potassium’s Latin name, and derives from the Arabic ‘al qalīy’, meaning “calcined ashes” (the ashes left over when plant material is burned). As with sodium, a number of modern languages still refer to potassium as kalium, and the name lends the element its chemical symbol, K.