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Fulminates
Fulminates are chemical compounds which include the fulminate ion (). The fulminate ion is a pseudohalic ion because its charge and reactivity are similar to those of the halogens. Due to the instability of the ion, fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury(II) fulminate, which has been used as a primary explosive in detonators. Fulminates can be formed from metals, such as silver and mercury, dissolved in nitric acid and reacted with ethanol. The weak single nitrogen-oxygen bond is responsible for their instability. Nitrogen very easily forms a stable triple bond to another nitrogen atom, forming nitrogen gas. Historical notes Fulminates were discovered by Edward Charles Howard in 1800. The use of fulminates for firearms was first demonstrated by a Scottish minister, Alexander John Forsyth, who patented his scent-bottle lock in 1807; this was a small container filled with fulminate of mercury. Joshua Shaw determined how to encapsulate the ...
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Alexander John Forsyth
Alexander John Forsyth (28 December 1768 – 11 June 1843) was a Scottish Church of Scotland minister who first successfully used fulminating (or 'detonating') chemicals to prime gunpowder in fire-arms thereby creating what became known as percussion ignition. Life He was born in the manse at Belhelvie the son of Rev James Forsyth (d.1790), and his wife, Isabella Syme. He studied at King's College, Aberdeen graduating MA in 1786. He succeeded his father as minister of his home town in 1791. Forsyth took out a British patent for locks utilising fulminates in 1807. Despite the patent being in force, several British gunsmiths, most notably Joseph Manton, invented other forms of detonating gunlocks ignition in order to evade Forsyth's patent, which would not expire until 1821. Forsyth continually protected his patent between 1807 and 1821 in Britain with legal action. He fought cases against Joseph Egg, Collinson Hall, Isaac Riviere, Joseph Vicars, and Joseph Manton (twice). The ...
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Percussion Cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise to the cap lock mechanism or percussion lock system using percussion caps struck by the hammer to set off the gunpowder charge in percussion guns including percussion rifles and cap and ball firearms. Any firearm using a caplock mechanism is a percussion gun. Any long gun with a cap-lock mechanism and rifled barrel is a percussion rifle. Cap and ball describes cap-lock firearms discharging a single bore-diameter spherical bullet with each shot. Description The percussion cap is a small cylinder of copper or brass with one closed end. Inside the closed end is a small amount of a shock-sensitive explosive material such as mercuric fulminate (discovered in 1800; it was the only practical detonator used from about 1850 to the early 20 ...
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Fulminic Acid
Fulminic acid is an acid with the formula HCNO, more specifically . It is an isomer In chemistry, isomers are molecules or polyatomic ions with identical molecular formulae – that is, same number of atoms of each element – but distinct arrangements of atoms in space. Isomerism is existence or possibility of isomers. Iso ... of isocyanic acid () and of its elusive tautomer, cyanic acid (), and also of isofulminic acid (). Fulminate is the anion or any of its salts. For historical reasons, the fulminate functional group is understood to be as in isofulminic acid; whereas the group is called nitrile oxide. History This chemical was known since the early 1800s through its salts and via the products of reactions in which it was proposed to exist, but the acid itself was not detected until 1966. Structure Fulminic acid was long believed to have a structure of H–O–N+≡C−. It wasn't until the 1966 isolation and analysis of a pure sample of fulminic acid th ...
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Silver Fulminate
Silver fulminate (AgCNO) is the highly explosive silver salt of fulminic acid. Silver fulminate is a primary explosive, but has limited use as such due to its extreme sensitivity to impact, heat, pressure, and electricity. The compound becomes progressively sensitive as it is aggregated, even in small amounts; the touch of a falling feather, the impact of a single water droplet, or a small static discharge are all capable of explosively detonating an unconfined pile of silver fulminate no larger than a dime and no heavier than a few milligrams. Aggregating larger quantities is impossible, due to the compound's tendency to self-detonate under its own weight. Silver fulminate was first prepared in 1800 by Edward Charles Howard in his research project to prepare a large variety of fulminates. Along with mercury fulminate, it is the only fulminate stable enough for commercial use. Detonators using silver fulminate were used to initiate picric acid in 1885, but since have onl ...
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Potassium Fulminate
Potassium fulminate is the potassium salt of the fulminate ion. Its only use, aside from chemical demonstrations, is in the percussion caps for some early rifles. Usually prepared by reacting a potassium amalgam with mercury fulminate, it is much less sensitive due to the ionic bond between potassium and carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes ..., unlike the weaker covalent bond between mercury and carbon. See also * List of explosives * Fulminic acid * Fulminate * Silver fulminate * Mercury(II) fulminate * Potassium cyanate References {{Potassium compounds Potassium compounds Fulminates ...
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Mercury(II) Fulminate
Mercury(II) fulminate, or Hg(CNO)2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction, heat and shock and is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and detonators. Mercury(II) cyanate, though its chemical formula is identical, has a different atomic arrangement; the cyanate and fulminate anions are isomers. First used as a priming composition in small copper caps beginning in the 1820s, mercury fulminate quickly replaced flints as a means to ignite black powder charges in muzzle-loading firearms. Later, during the late 19th century and most of the 20th century, mercury fulminate became widely used in primers for self-contained rifle and pistol ammunition; it was the only practical detonator for firing projectiles until the early 20th century. Mercury fulminate has the distinct advantage over potassium chlorate of being non-corrosive, but it is known to weaken with time, by decomposing into its constituent elements. The reduced mercury w ...
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John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in print and electronically, as well as online products and services, training materials, and educational materials for undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students. History The company was established in 1807 when Charles Wiley opened a print shop in Manhattan. The company was the publisher of 19th century American literary figures like James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as of legal, religious, and other non-fiction titles. The firm took its current name in 1865. Wiley later shifted its focus to scientific, technical, and engineering subject areas, abandoning its literary interests. Wiley's son John (born in Flatbush, New York, October 4, 1808; died in East Orange, ...
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Isomer
In chemistry, isomers are molecules or polyatomic ions with identical molecular formulae – that is, same number of atoms of each element – but distinct arrangements of atoms in space. Isomerism is existence or possibility of isomers. Isomers do not necessarily share similar chemical or physical properties. Two main forms of isomerism are structural or constitutional isomerism, in which '' bonds'' between the atoms differ; and stereoisomerism or spatial isomerism, in which the bonds are the same but the ''relative positions'' of the atoms differ. Isomeric relationships form a hierarchy. Two chemicals might be the same constitutional isomer, but upon deeper analysis be stereoisomers of each other. Two molecules that are the same stereoisomer as each other might be in different conformational forms or be different isotopologues. The depth of analysis depends on the field of study or the chemical and physical properties of interest. The English word "isomer" () is a bac ...
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Jöns Jakob Berzelius
Jöns is a Swedish given name and a surname. Notable people with the given name include: * Jöns Jacob Berzelius Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; by himself and his contemporaries named only Jacob Berzelius, 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be ... (1779–1848), Swedish chemist * Jöns Budde (1435–1495), Franciscan friar from the Brigittine monastery in NaantaliVallis Gratiae - near Turku, Finland * Jöns Gerekesson (died 1433), controversial Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden 1408–1421, and Iceland 1426–1433 until he was drowned * Jöns Peter Hemberg (1763–1834), Swedish banker and member of parliament * Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna (1417–1467), Swedish archbishop of Uppsala (1448–1467) and regent of Sweden * Jöns Svanberg (1771–1851), Swedish clergyman and natural scientist Notable people with the surname include: * Karin Jöns (born 1953), Germ ...
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Chemical Composition
A chemical composition specifies the identity, arrangement, and ratio of the elements making up a compound. Chemical formulas can be used to describe the relative amounts of elements present in a compound. For example, the chemical formula for water is H2O: this means that each molecule of water is constituted by 2 atoms of hydrogen (H) and 1 atom of oxygen (O). The chemical composition of water may be interpreted as a 2:1 ratio of hydrogen atoms to oxygen atoms. Different types of chemical formulas are used to convey composition information, such as an empirical or molecular formula. Nomenclature can be used to express not only the elements present in a compound but their arrangement within the molecules of the compound. In this way, compounds will have unique names which can describe their elemental composition. Composite mixture The chemical composition of a mixture can be defined as the distribution of the individual substances that constitute the mixture, called "c ...
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Silver Cyanate
Silver cyanate is the cyanate salt of silver. It can be made by the reaction of potassium cyanate with silver nitrate in aqueous solution, from which it precipitates as a solid. : + \rarr + + Alternatively, the reaction : + \rarr + analogous to the reaction used for the industrial production of sodium cyanate, may be used. Silver cyanate is a beige to gray powder. It crystallises in the monoclinic crystal system in space group ''P''21/''m'' with parameters a = 547.3  pm, b = 637.2 pm, c = 341.6 pm, and β = 91°. Each unit cell contains two cyanate ions and two silver ions. The silver ions are each equidistant from two nitrogen atoms forming a straight N-Ag-N group. The nitrogen atoms are each coordinated to two silver atoms, so that there are zigzag chains of alternating silver and nitrogen atoms going in the direction of the monoclinic "b" axis, with the cyanate ions perpendicular to that axis.
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