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Text and/or other creative content from this version of Niter was copied or moved into Potassium nitrate on 11 January 2022. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

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Previous "talk" getting misleading.

The article has changed a lot. Previous "talk" references were mostly not correct anymore.

needs to be added —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.28.198.238 (talk • contribs)

Done Riventree (talk) 20:24, 15 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"2012-09-15T20:24:00.000Z","author":"Riventree","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Riventree-2012-09-15T20:24:00.000Z-use_in_salt_bridges","replies":[]}}-->

Should be added. I found this somewhere on the internet but have no liable source: 4KNO_3(s) → 2K₂O_(s) + 2N_2(g) + 5O_2(g)

Done. Found source, referenced. Riventree (talk) 20:25, 15 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"2012-09-15T20:25:00.000Z","author":"Riventree","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Riventree-2012-09-15T20:25:00.000Z-Thermal_Decomposition","replies":[]}}-->

The history section could really use some expansion into the past. "The earliest known complete purification process for potassium nitrate was outlined in 1270 by the chemist and engineer Hasan al-Rammah of Syria" vs "Saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD" in the Gunpowder article. It's as if the first half of its history, before complete purification, was insignificant. 83.14.232.226 (talk) 09:13, 29 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"2015-05-29T09:13:00.000Z","author":"83.14.232.226","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-83.14.232.226-2015-05-29T09:13:00.000Z-More_history?","replies":[]}}-->

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Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 00:47, 2 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"2016-04-02T00:47:00.000Z","author":"Cyberbot II","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Cyberbot_II-2016-04-02T00:47:00.000Z-External_links_modified","replies":[]}}-->

Who ever called saltpeter "Indian" saltpeter? Maybe it is true that they mined it on a reasonably large scale in India, but for a very long time saltpeter was used on a large scale to make gunpowder and England had no commercial relationships with India... I don't know what the Indians did with all the saltpeter they mined, but for sure they did not export it to any English speaking country until modern times. Imerologul Valah (talk) 16:58, 26 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20221026165800","author":"Imerologul","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Imerologul-20221026165800-\"Indian\"_saltpeter?","replies":["c-JohndanR-20231008174800-Imerologul-20221026165800"],"displayName":"Imerologul Valah"}}-->

Wikipedia has very clearly provided the source material—which is particularly rich in its historical discussion for Indian saltpeter—for the reference, q.v.  It's simply a question of following the links embedded in the context and looking them up. If you can't find them, I'll give a head-start: "David Cressy. Saltpeter: The Mother of Gunpowder" JohndanR (talk) 17:48, 8 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20231008174800","author":"JohndanR","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-JohndanR-20231008174800-Imerologul-20221026165800","replies":[]}}-->

See excellent discussion here. I'm convinced by Athanasius's account, and of the citations and links in that section, the only one I can't follow up to make sure it's consistent with Athanasius's account is citation #48, which is a book. (FWIW, i'm working on getting it from a nearby library.)

The line about Reestit mutton isn't part of this issue; and can safely be moved to the "Meat Processing" section. ShapeOfMatter (talk) 16:05, 31 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240731160500","author":"ShapeOfMatter","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-ShapeOfMatter-20240731160500-Remove_\"Food_Preparation\"","replies":["c-166.181.80.68-20240731224900-ShapeOfMatter-20240731160500"]}}-->

Regarding the citation to Ethnic & cultural diversity in Nigeria, I have the book in front of me, and the relevant line is on page 54, at the start of the second paragraph: "The new mother starts to drink highly spiced gruel (kunun kanwa) that contains potash" (emphasis mine). I am therefore going to be WP:BOLD and remove the contested section. Feel free to confirm my research and check over my changes. 166.181.80.68 (talk) 22:49, 31 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240731224900","author":"166.181.80.68","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-166.181.80.68-20240731224900-ShapeOfMatter-20240731160500","replies":["c-166.181.80.68-20240731231000-166.181.80.68-20240731224900","c-ShapeOfMatter-20240801002300-166.181.80.68-20240731224900"]}}-->

@CFA: I understand not wanting to include a SE site in the refs, but did you mean to also revert the disputed section template invocation considering the evidence given that the section as it stands is nonfactual, particularly that the cited sources do not support the current claims? 166.181.80.68 (talk) 23:10, 31 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240731231000","author":"166.181.80.68","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-166.181.80.68-20240731231000-166.181.80.68-20240731224900","replies":[]}}-->

I'm doing my best to follow the edits and reverts. I think @166.181.80.68 and I are in agreement that the "Food Preparation" section can be removed altogether. (I'll do it now.) There's no need to cite SE; the correct version of the page needn't have any mention of Kanwa at all. If we want to incorporate Athanasius's work elsewhere on Wikipedia (e.g Potash); they've helpfully cited their own sources for us to double-check. (I may get to this later; but if you're enthusiastic please don't wait for me.) ShapeOfMatter (talk) 00:23, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240801002300","author":"ShapeOfMatter","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-ShapeOfMatter-20240801002300-166.181.80.68-20240731224900","replies":[]}}-->

KNO3 is mentioned quite a lot in The Cask Of Amontillado :] CornBabyLaughter (talk) 16:49, 23 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20241023164900","author":"CornBabyLaughter","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-CornBabyLaughter-20241023164900-Another_thing_that_potassium_nitrate_is_prevalent_in","replies":["c-OpdqbdpbqO-20241124175100-CornBabyLaughter-20241023164900"]}}-->

The Cask of Amontillado does reference nitre frequently, but it is exclusively in mineral form, so this factoid is a better fit for that page. The article for nitre actually does link to Poe's story under "External links", and the article used to include a mention of it, but it appears that it was edited out some years ago due to a lack of notability. OpdqbdpbqO (talk) 17:51, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20241124175100","author":"OpdqbdpbqO","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-OpdqbdpbqO-20241124175100-CornBabyLaughter-20241023164900","replies":[]}}-->

I have reverted a change from an anonymous IP address from 18:22, 11 November 2023, that claimed potassium oxide was the compound in wood ash that was used to purify crude saltpeter mineral instead of potassium carbonate. This change was made with no sources except their own claim, so I have reverted it.

The page for potassium oxide states that it is "uncommonly encountered," which initially made me suspicious that it would even be a major component of wood ash. I believe the anonymous editor's reasoning, that "high temperature of combustion would [produce the] oxide, not the carbonate," may actually be misunderstood from the page on wood ash that states that, when created under high temperatures, the major constituent of wood ash may be calcium oxide (not potassium oxide).

The burden of proof is clearly on the anonymous editor when the original text from 03:11, 4 June 2008 has a source and has remained virtually unchanged in this article for over 15 years. OpdqbdpbqO (talk) 07:47, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20241123074700","author":"OpdqbdpbqO","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-OpdqbdpbqO-20241123074700-Confusion_on_wood_ash_compound_under_\"From_mineral_sources\"","replies":[]}}-->