Niter

Niter or nitre is the mineral form of potassium nitrate, KNO 3 . It is a soft, white, highly soluble mineral found primarily in arid climates or cave deposits. Potassium and other nitrates are of great importance for use in fertilizers and, historically, gunpowder. Much of the world's demand is now met by synthetically produced nitrates, though the natural mineral is still mined and is still of significant commercial value. Historically, the term niter was not well differentiated from natron, both of which have been very vaguely defined but generally refer to compounds of sodium or potassium combined with carbonate or nitrate ions.

Niter or nitre is the mineral form of potassium nitrate, KNO 3 . It is a soft, white, highly soluble mineral found primarily in arid climates or cave deposits. Potassium and other nitrates are of great importance for use in fertilizers and, historically, gunpowder. Much of the world's demand is now met by synthetically produced nitrates, though the natural mineral is still mined and is still of significant commercial value. Historically, the term niter was not well differentiated from natron, both of which have been very vaguely defined but generally refer to compounds of sodium or potassium combined with carbonate or nitrate ions.

History and etymology

Niter as a term has been known since ancient times, although there is much historical confusion with natron (an impure sodium carbonate/bicarbonate), and not all of the ancient salts known by this name or similar names in the ancient world contained nitrate. The name is from the Ancient Greek from Ancient Egyptian , related to the Hebrew , for salt-derived ashes (their interrelationship is not clear). The Hebrew may have been used as, or in conjunction, with soap, as implied by Jeremiah 2:22, "For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap..." However, it is not certain which substance (or substances) the Biblical "neter" refers to, with some suggesting sodium carbonate. The Neo-Latin word for sodium, , is derived from this same class of desert minerals called (French) through Spanish from Greek ( ), derived from Ancient Egyptian , referring to the sodium carbonate salts occurring in the deserts of Egypt, not the nitratine (nitrated sodium salts) typically occurring in the deserts of Chile (classically known as "Chilean saltpeter" and variants of this term). A term ( , or aphronitre) which translates as "foam of niter" was a regular purchase in a fourth-century AD series of financial accounts, and since it was expressed as being "for the baths" was probably used as soap. Niter was used to refer specifically to nitrated salts known as various types of saltpeter (only nitrated salts were good for making gunpowder) by the time niter and its derivative nitric acid were first used to name the element nitrogen, in 1790.

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