Potassium Hydrogen Sulfate
Potassium hydrogen sulfate or bisulfate, KHSO4, is readily produced by mixing K2SO4 with an equivalent number of moles of sulfuric acid. It forms rhombic pyramids, which melt at 197 °C. It dissolves in three parts of water at 0 °C. The solution behaves much as if its two congeners, K2SO4 and H2SO4, were present side by side of each other uncombined; an excess of ethanol the precipitates normal sulfate (with little bisulfate) with excess acid remaining.
The behavior of the fused dry salt is similar when heated to several hundred degrees; it acts on silicates, titanates, etc., the same way as sulfuric acid that is heated beyond its natural boiling point does. Hence it is frequently used in analytical chemistry as a disintegrating agent. For information about other salts that contain sulfate, see sulfate.
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