MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: Todays science lesson

> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fulminate
>
> I actually have some issues with that article in wikipedia. The initial description
> of silver fulminate is more appropriate for the description of nitrogen triiodide
> monoamine. They then proceed to talk about using silver fulminate in the "snappers"
> that I remember playing with as a kid for quite a while. Simply put, silver is too
> expensive for that type of use. Mercury fulminate was far more likely as the
> government agencies didn't have heart attacks when the word "mercury" was used.
>
> I have never personally seen silver fulminate. I have seen the generation of mercury
> fulminate, trinitrotoluene, nitroglycerine, and trinitrophenol. (Freshmen year of
> college, while doing an inventory of the chemical supply closet, a large number of
> jars of preserved specimens were discovered. These jars had a bunch of crystals
> formed near the lid. Turns out, those crystals were trinitrophenol which formed in
> there since it was used as a preservative way back when. Bomb Squad was called in,
> and they detonated the jars. VERY loud kaboom. Was fun to watch and see. ).
>
> Nitrogen triiodide monoamine is the compound that got me interested in chemistry.
> INCREDIBLY sensitive compound that will self detonate if allowed to fully dry. Many
> people commonly just call it nitrogen triiodide, but that's not what is typically
> formed. When produced in the commonly known methods, the monoamine adduct forms which
> provides "some" stability. It's just that when it dries, that adduct tends to
> evaporate and at that point, the pressure difference caused by a loud sound will set
> it off.

I seem to remember a story (not sure how true it is) about some chemistry student or students preparing (without knowledge of the instructor) some of that latter substance in a chemistry class, and placing it, still wet, in a saucer mixed with sugar and water, as a way to get rid of a cloud of horseflies in the chemistry lab. This predictably backfired as the flies tended to dry off and explode after takeoff from the bait, and everyone had to duck under tables due to a hail of exploding horseflies.
I wish I could find the source of this story.

LN

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