Not every chemical with the word "potassium" in the name can be used as a supplement. Potassium chloride, potassium bicarbonate and potassium gluconate are all potassium salts with medical or nutritional uses. Potassium perchlorate is also a potassium salt, but the similarities end there because this substance is an explosive with no nutritional uses.
Chemistry
Potassium perchlorate is a white powder with a molecular weight of 138.55 g/mole. The word "perchlorate" signals that potassium perchlorate is an inorganic oxidizer. This means that this molecule is very reactive and easily transfers oxygen atoms in exchange for electrons from another sources. Large volumes of oxidizers are commonly recognized as dangerous.
Fireworks
If you have ever ignited a cheap sparkler on the Fourth of July or played with a cap gun, you have probably handled potassium perchlorate. This is used in smaller fireworks used by consumers, and in propellants, stars, explosive primers and flash compositions used in professional fireworks displays.
Rocket Propellant
In the early 1940s, the U.S. Navy began experimenting with the use of potassium perchlorate as a solid rocket propellant for jet-assisted take off units, better known as JATOs. Potassium perchlorate was so successful that the Navy stopped researching other solid rocket fuels for use in JATOs. Ultimately, potassium perchlorate was replaced with ammonium perchlorate because potassium perchlorate produces a large tell-tale cloud of white smoke when it burns.
Medical Uses
In the 1950's, doctors began using potassium perchlorate in the treatment of congenital goiters and a thyroid disease called thyrotoxicosis. This practice continued at least into the 1990's, although its use decreased because this drug produces aplastic anemia. Potassium perchlorate has largely been replaced with other thyroid drugs.
References
- Science for You: Potassium Perchlorate
- Spectroscopy Letters: Gunshot Residue Analysis in the Undergraduate Laboratory Using Toy Cap Guns; Christopher R. Dockery, et al.;October, 2009
- Astronatix.com; Composite Solid Propellants; Andre Bedard
- "Werner & Ingbar's The thyroid: A Fundamental and Clinical Text; Sidney C. Werner, et al.; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005
- "British Heart Journal"; Two Cases of Amiodarone-Induced Thyrotoxicosis; Mieke D Trip, et al.; 1994
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