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Fulminate
 
 
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Fulminates are chemical
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 compounds
Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a Chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical element Chemical bond together in a fixed mass ratio that can be split into simpler substances....
 which include the fulminate ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
. The fulminate ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, CNO- is a pseudohalic ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, acting like a halogen
Halogen

|}The halogens or halogen elements are a chemical series of nonmetal chemical element from Periodic table group International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry of the periodic table, comprising fluorine, F; chlorine, Cl; bromine, Br; iodine, I; and astatine, At....
 with its charge and reactivity. Due to the instability of the ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury fulminate, which has been used as a primary explosive in detonator
Detonator

A detonator is a device used to detonation an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the latter two being the most common....
s. Fulminates can be formed from metals, such as silver and mercury
Mercury (element)

Mercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. A heavy, silvery d-block metal, mercury is one of six elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and pressure....
, dissolved in nitric acid and reacted with ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
.






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Fulminates are chemical
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 compounds
Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a Chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical element Chemical bond together in a fixed mass ratio that can be split into simpler substances....
 which include the fulminate ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
. The fulminate ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, CNO- is a pseudohalic ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, acting like a halogen
Halogen

|}The halogens or halogen elements are a chemical series of nonmetal chemical element from Periodic table group International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry of the periodic table, comprising fluorine, F; chlorine, Cl; bromine, Br; iodine, I; and astatine, At....
 with its charge and reactivity. Due to the instability of the ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury fulminate, which has been used as a primary explosive in detonator
Detonator

A detonator is a device used to detonation an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the latter two being the most common....
s. Fulminates can be formed from metals, such as silver and mercury
Mercury (element)

Mercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. A heavy, silvery d-block metal, mercury is one of six elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and pressure....
, dissolved in nitric acid and reacted with ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
. It is largely the presence of the weak single nitrogen-oxygen bond which leads to its instability. Nitrogen very easily forms a stable triple bond
Covalent bond

A covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms, or between atoms and other covalent bonds....
 to another nitrogen atom, forming gaseous nitrogen.

Historical notes

Fulminates were discovered by Edward Charles Howard
Edward Charles Howard

Edward Charles Howard, born 28 May 1774, the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk, died 27 September 1816 was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland chemist, who has also been described as "the first chemical engineer of any eminence....
 in 1800. Their use in firearms in a fulminating powder was first demonstrated by a Scottish minister, A. J. Forsyth, who was granted the patent to it in 1807. Joshua Shaw then made the transition to their use in metallic encapsulations, to form a percussion cap
Percussion cap

The percussion cap, introduced around 1830, was the crucial invention that enabled Muzzleloader firearms to fire reliably in any weather. Before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems which produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the gun's main powder charge....
, but did not patent his invention until 1822.

In the 1820s, the organic chemist Justus Liebig discovered silver fulminate
Silver fulminate

Silver fulminate is an explosive ionic compound of silver and the fulminate anion.Silver fulminate is a primary explosive that has very little practical value due to its extreme sensitivity....
 (Ag-CNO) and Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler

Friedrich W?hler was a Germany chemist, best-known for his synthesis of urea, but also the first to isolate several chemical elements....
 discovered silver cyanate (Ag-OCN). The fact that these substances have the same chemical composition led to an acrid dispute, which was not resolved until Jöns Jakob Berzelius
Jöns Jakob Berzelius

Friherre J?ns Jacob Berzelius was a Sweden chemist. He worked out the modern technique of chemical formula, and is together with John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, and Robert Boyle considered a father of modern chemistry....
 came up with the concept of isomer
Isomer

In chemistry, isomers are compounds with the same molecular formula but different structural formulae. Isomers do not necessarily share similar properties unless they also have the same functional groups....
s.

Compounds

  • Fulminic acid
    Fulminic acid

    Fulminic acid is a compound with a molecular formula HCNO. This substance was discovered in 1824 by Justus von Liebig. It is an organic acid and an isomer of isocyanic acid, discovered one year later by Friedrich Woehler....
  • Mercury(II) fulminate
    Mercury(II) fulminate

    Mercury fulminate, Hg2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction and shock . It is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and blasting caps....
  • Potassium fulminate
    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....
  • Silver fulminate
    Silver fulminate

    Silver fulminate is an explosive ionic compound of silver and the fulminate anion.Silver fulminate is a primary explosive that has very little practical value due to its extreme sensitivity....


See also

  • The cyanate
    Cyanate

    The cyanate ion is an anion consisting of one oxygen atom, one carbon atom, and one nitrogen atom, [OCN]-, in that order, and possesses 1 unit of negative electric charge, borne mainly by the nitrogen atom....
     (-OCN) and isocyanate
    Isocyanate

    Isocyanate is the functional group of atoms ?N=C=O , not to be confused with the cyanate functional group which is arranged as ?O?C=N....
     (-NCO) groups have a related structure.
  • Internal ballistics
    Internal ballistics

    Internal ballistics, a subfield of ballistics, is the study of a projectile's behavior from the time its propellant's igniter is initiated until it exits the gun barrel....
  • Percussion cap
    Percussion cap

    The percussion cap, introduced around 1830, was the crucial invention that enabled Muzzleloader firearms to fire reliably in any weather. Before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems which produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the gun's main powder charge....