The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

SILVER AZIDE 431
temperature of spontaneous explosion varies somewhat according
to the method of heating, but is considerably higher than that of
mercury fulminate and slightly lower than that of lead azide.
Taylor and Rinkenbach 40 reported 273°. Its sensitivity to shock,
like that of lead azide, depends upon its state of subdivision.
FIGURE 101. William H. Rinkenbach. Has published many studies on the
physical, chemical, and explosive properties of pure high-explosive subhtances
and primary explosives. Research Chemist, U. S. Bureau of Mines,
1919-1927; Assistant Chief Chemist, Picatinny Arsenal, 1927-1929; Chief
Chemist, 1929—.
Taylor and Rinkenbach prepared a "colloidal" silver azide which
required a 777-mm. drop of a 500-gram weight to cause detonation.
Mercury fulminate required a drop of 127 mm. According
to the same investigators 0.05 gram of silver azide was necessary
to cause the detonation of 0.4 gram of trinitrotoluene in a No. 6
detonator capsule, whether the charge was confined by a reenforcing
cap or not, as compared with 0.24 gram of mercury ful-
*°Army Ordnance, 5, 824 (1925).