1. Potassium chlorate is the inorganic compound with the molecular formula KClO3. In its pure form, it is a white solid. After sodium chlorate, it is the second most common chlorate in industrial use. It is a strong oxidizing agent and its most important application is in safety matches. In other applications it is mostly obsolete and has been replaced by safer alternatives in recent decades. It has been used in fireworks, propellants and explosives, to prepare oxygen, both in the lab and in chemical oxygen generators, as a disinfectant, for example in dentifrices and medical mouthwashes, in agriculture as a herbicide. == Production == On the industrial scale, potassium chlorate is produced by the salt metathesis reaction of sodium chlorate and potassium chloride: NaClO3 + KCl → NaCl + KClO3 The reaction is driven by the low solubility of potassium chlorate in water. The equilibrium of the reaction is shifted to the right hand side by the continuous precipitation of the product (Le Chatelier... from wikipedia.org