Question

What happens when potassium reacts with :

(a) water

Answer 1

Reaction of potassium with water:

• Generally, metals react with water to form metal hydroxides and hydrogen gas is evolved.
• When Potassium reacted with water it produces potassium hydroxide and hydrogen with a large amount of heat.
• Since heat evolved in this reaction. So, this is an example of an Exothermic reaction.
• The balanced chemical reaction can be written as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Potassium}}{2\mathrm{K}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+2\underset{\mathrm{Water}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Potassium}\mathrm{hydroxide}}{2\mathrm{KOH}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\mathrm{Heat}$