Silver fulminate (AgCNO) is the highly explosive silver salt of fulminic acid.
Silver fulminate is a primary explosive that has very little practical value 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. Aggregation of 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. Since its discovery, its only practical usage has been in producing non-damaging novelty noisemakers as children's toys and tricks.
Read more about Silver Fulminate: Structure, Preparation, Novelty Explosive, Silver Fulminate and "fulminating Silver"
Famous quotes containing the word silver:
“I cease my song for thee,
From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee,
O comrade lustrous with silver face in the night.
Yet each to keep and all, retrievements out of the night,
The song, the wondrous chant of the grey-brown bird,
And the tallying chant, the echo aroused in my soul,
With the lustrous and drooping star with the countenance full of woe,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)