Fulminate

Fulminate

Fulminates are chemical compounds which include the fulminate ion. The fulminate ion is a pseudohalic ion, acting like a halogen with its charge and reactivity. Due to the instability of the ion, they are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury fulminate which has been used as a primary explosive in detonators. Fulminates can be formed from metals, like silver and mercury, dissolved in nitric acid and reacted with alcohol. The chemical formula for the fulminate ion is ON+C. 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 to another nitrogen atom, forming gaseous nitrogen.

Historical notes

Fulminates were discovered by Edward Charles Howard in 1800. [cite journal
title = On a New Fulminating Mercury
author = Edward Howard
journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
year = 1800
volume = 90
issue = 1
pages = 204–238
doi = 10.1098/rstl.1800.0012
] [cite journal
title = The Life and Work of Edward Charles Howard
author = F. Kurzer
journal = Annals of Science
year = 1999
volume = 56
issue =
pages = 113–141
doi = 10.1080/000337999296445
] [cite web | title = Edward Charles Howard (1774-1816), Scientist and sugar refiner publisher = National Portrain Gallery | date = 2005-01-05 | url = http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp02292 | accessdate = 2006-08-30 ] . Their use in firearms in a fulminating powder was first demonstrated by a Scottish minister, A. J. Forsyth, who was granted a patent in 1807cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/rifle-history.htm|title=Rifled Breach Loader|publisher=Globalsecurity.org] . Joshua Shaw then made the transition to their use in metallic encapsulations, to form a percussion cap, but did not patent his invention until 1822.

In the 1820s, the organic chemist Justus Liebig discovered silver fulminate (Ag-CNO) and Friedrich Wöhler 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 came up with the concept of isomers [cite book | first=Arthur
last=Greenberg
year=2000
title=A Chemical History Tour
publisher=John Wiley & Sons
pages = 198-203
id = ISBN 0-471-35408-2
] .

Compounds

* Silver fulminate
* Mercury(II) fulminate
* Fulminic acid
* Cyanate, has related OCN structure

References

ee also

* percussion cap
* internal ballistics


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  • fulminate — [ fylminat ] n. m. • 1823; du lat. fulmen, inis « foudre », et suff. chim. ate ♦ Chim. Sel détonant de mercure ou d or, obtenu par action de l ammoniaque sur un chlorure ou un oxyde de ces métaux. Fulminate de mercure utilisé comme amorce dans… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Fulminate — Général Nom IUPAC Oxidoazaniumylidynemethane No CAS …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Fulminate — Ful mi*nate, n. [Cf. P. fulminate. See {Fulminate}, v. i.] (Chem.) (a) A salt of fulminic acid. See under {Fulminic}. (b) A fulminating powder. [1913 Webster] {Fulminate of gold}, an explosive compound of gold; called also {fulminating gold}, and …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fulminate — Ful mi*nate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fulminated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fulminating}.] [L. fulminatus, p. p. of fulminare to lighten, strike with lightning, fr. fulmen thunderbolt, fr. fulgere to shine. See {Fulgent}, and cf. {Fulmine}.] 1. To thunder;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fulminate — Ful mi*nate, v. t. 1. To cause to explode. Sprat. [1913 Webster] 2. To utter or send out with denunciations or censures; said especially of menaces or censures uttered by ecclesiastical authority. [1913 Webster] They fulminated the most hostile… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fulmināte — (lat.), soviel wie Knallsäuresalze, z. B. Silberfulminat, knallsaures Silber; s. Knallsäure …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Fulminate — Fulminate, s. Initialzündungen …   Lexikon der gesamten Technik

  • Fulminate — Fulmināte, die Salze der Knallsäure (s.d.) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • fulminate — index defame, discharge (shoot), inveigh, threaten Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • Fulminate — Fulminate,   Singular Fulminat das, (e)s, die sehr explosiven Salze der Knallsäure.   …   Universal-Lexikon

  • fulminate — (v.) early 15c., publish a thundering denunciation, from L. fulminatus, pp. of fulminare hurl lightning, lighten, from fulmen (gen. fulminis) lightning flash, related to fulgere to shine, flash, from PIE *bhleg to shine, flash, from root *bhel… …   Etymology dictionary

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