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 O−N+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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