what is a used name for potassium
Potassium: historical information Potassium was discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy at 1807 in England. Origin of name: from the English word potash (pot ashes) and the Arabic word qali meaning alkali (the origin of the symbol K comes from the Latin word kalium) Until the 18th century no distinction was made between potassium and sodium. This was because early chemists did not recognise that vegetable alkali (K2CO3, potassium carbonate, coming from deposits in the earth) and mineral alkali (Na2CO3, sodium carbonate, derived from wood ashes) are distinct from each other.