linguistic:paraphrasing, structural:scholar_edition
Uses

Most sodium nitrate is used in fertilizers, where it supplies a water-soluble form of nitrogen. Its use, which is mainly outside of high-income countries, is attractive since it does not alter the pH of the soil. Another major use is as a complement to ammonium nitrate in explosives. Molten sodium nitrate and its solutions with potassium nitrate have good thermal stability (up to 600 °C) and high heat capacities. These properties are suitable for thermally annealing metals and for storing thermal energy in solar applications.