While you may have never considered potash, it’s discovery and usage has helped make the production of soap, gunpowder, glass, and batteries possible. Next time you take a bite of a sandwich or change the batteries in your smoke detector, thank Sir Humphry Davy, 14th century Polish hunters, and the essential potash mines around the world.

If you have any questions or comments about the information provided in this episode, please contact us at [email protected].

Click to donate here.

Please check out our Instagram here.

Resources:

Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: A World History. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2003. Paperback.

Uses of Potash

Veritasium Video About Potash

About Potassium Nitrate

About the First U.S. Patent

About the German Economy at the Turn of the 20th Century

About the Davy Lamp

About the Moab Potash Mine