Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tan Yew Jie (25)

Potassium Cyanide KCN

Made up of 1 Potassium atom, 1 Carbon atom and 1 Nitrogen atom.

Chemical Bonding

It is a Ionic Bond.

Harmful Effects
This prevents the body from oxidizing food to produce useful energy. Initially, acute cyanide poisoning causes a red or ruddy complexion in the victim because the tissues are not able to use the oxygen in the blood. The person may die within 45 minutes if not treated medically. During this period, convulsions may occur. Death occurs mainly by cardiac arrest. A number of prominent persons were killed or committed suicide using potassium cyanide.

Constituent Elements
Potassium (K)
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K, atomic number 19, and atomic mass 39.0983. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white metallic alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.

Carbon (C)

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. There are three naturally occurring isotopes, with 12C and 13C being stable, while 14C is radioactive, decaying with a half-life of about 5730 years.[9] Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. The name "carbon" comes from Latin carbo, coal.


Nitrogen (N)
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere. The element nitrogen was discovered as a separable component of air, by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford, in 1772.


Formation

Potassium (K) has 19 valance electrons. Carbon (C) has 6 valance electrons. Nitrogen (N) has 7 valance electrons.




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