Demonstrating an explosive: mercury(II)-fulminate!

Mercury(II)-fulminate and other fulminates are quite interesting compounds, the fulminate anion’s chemical composition is identical with the cyanate anion (fulminate: -CNO, cyanate: -OCN), only the sequence of the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen is different. With the this small difference something important also changes: cyanates are white powders, doing nothing when heated, while fulminates (especially silver and mercury and other heavy metal fulminartes) explode upon heating.

Interesting fact no. 1: when mercury fulminate detonates one of the decomposition products is elemental mercury what is left behind on the surface where it exploded (in the case on the surface of the paper) and it lets us see where did the “reaction happened”.

Interesting fact no. 2: the famous chemist Justus Liebig when he was a teenager published an experimental writeup (his first publication) about how can we prepare safely silver(I)-fulmite what is also a powerful, light, heat, friction and everything sensitive explosive.

9:30 pm • 27 February 2015 • 348 notes • View comments