Editing Potash (section)

{{Short description|Salt mixture}}
{{distinguish|pottage}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:PotashUSGOV.jpg|thumb|Polycrystalline potash, with a [[penny (United States coin)|U.S. penny]] for reference. (The coin is {{convert|19|mm|in|abbr=on}} in diameter and [[copper (color)|copper]] in color.)]]

'''Potash''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɒ|t|æ|ʃ}} {{respell|POT|ash}}) includes various mined and manufactured [[salt (chemistry)|salts]] that contain [[potassium]] in water-[[solute|soluble]] form.<ref name=usgs2>[http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/potash/myb1-2008-potas.pdf Potash] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728201706/https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/potash-statistics-and-information |date=2023-07-28 }}, USGS 2008 Minerals Yearbook</ref> The name derives from ''pot ash'', plant ashes or [[wood ash]] soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing potash before the [[Industrial Era]]. The word ''[[potassium]]'' is derived from ''potash''.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Humphry|last=Davy|title=On some new phenomena of chemical changes produced by electricity, in particular the decomposition of the fixed alkalies, and the exhibition of the new substances that constitute their bases; and on the general nature of alkaline bodies|page=32|year=1808|volume=98|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpwEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA32|doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0001|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Potash is produced worldwide in amounts exceeding 71.9&nbsp;million [[tonne]]s (~45.4 million tonnes [[Potassium oxide|K<sub>2</sub>O]] equivalent{{Refn|Chemically pure KCl (96% of world potash capacity<ref>{{Cite web |title=Production and use of potassium chloride |url=https://www.ipipotash.org/uploads/udocs/Chap-1_potash_production.pdf |website=International Potash Institute |page=17}}</ref>) contains 63.17% K<sub>2</sub>O equivalent<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1998 |title=Production and Use of Potassium |url=http://www.ipni.net/publication/bettercrops.nsf/0/A529956F62A701F6852579800082035A/$FILE/Better%20Crops%201998-3%20p06.pdf |journal=Better Crops |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=6 |via=International Plant Nutrition Institute }}{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>}}) per year as of 2021, with Canada being the largest producer, mostly for use in [[fertilizer]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-23 |title=Potash facts |url=https://natural-resources.canada.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/minerals-metals-facts/potash-facts/20521 |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=natural-resources.canada.ca}}</ref> Various kinds of fertilizer-potash constitute the single greatest industrial use of the element potassium in the world. Potassium was first derived in 1807 by [[electrolysis]] of caustic potash ([[potassium hydroxide]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Knight|first1=David|title=Humphry Davy: Science and Power|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780631168164|url-access=registration|date=1992|publisher=Blackwell|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780631168164/page/66 66]|isbn=9780631168164}}</ref>