Potassium azide is the chemical compound having the formula . It is the potassium

Potassium

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

 salt of hydrazoic acid

Hydrazoic acid

Hydrazoic acid, also known as hydrogen azide or azoimide, is a colorless, volatile, and extremely explosive liquid at room temperature and pressure. It is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, having chemical formula HN3. It was first isolated in 1890 by Theodor Curtius...

, and crystallizes in a tetragonal structure. Upon heating or irradiation with ultraviolet light, it decomposes into potassium metal and nitrogen

Nitrogen

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...

 gas. Unlike heavy-metal azide

Azide

Azide is the anion with the formula N3−. It is the conjugate base of hydrazoic acid. N3− is a linear anion that is isoelectronic with CO2 and N2O. Per valence bond theory, azide can be described by several resonance structures, an important one being N−=N+=N−...

s, it is not sensitive to shock, but may explode if heated rapidly.

It has been found to act as a nitrification inhibitor in soil.