The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

DIAZODINITROPHENOL 445
alcohol 2.43 grams, in benzene 0.23 gram, and in chloroform
0.11 gram.
Diazodinitrophenol is less sensitive to impact than mercury
fulminate and lead azide. Its sensitivity to friction is about the
same as that of lead azide, much less than that of mercury fulminate.
It detonates when struck a sharp blow, but, if it is ignited
when it is unconfined, it burns with a quick flash, like nitrocellulose,
even in quantities of several grams. This burning produces
little or no local shock, and will not initiate the explosion
of a high explosive. Commercial detonators containing a highexplosive
charge of nitromannite and a primary explosive charge
of diazodinitrophenol explode if they are crimped to a piece of
miner's fuse and the fuse is lighted, but a spark falling into the
open end has been reported to cause only the flashing of the
diazodinitrophenol. Likewise, if an open cap of this sort falls
into a fire, the diazodinitrophenol may flash, the nitromannite
may later melt and run out and burn with a flash, and the detonator
may be destroyed without exploding. While it is not safe
to expect that this will always happen, it is an advantage of
diazodinitrophenol that it sometimes occurs.
Diazodinitrophenol is darkened rapidly by exposure to sunlight.
It does not react with water at ordinary temperatures, but
is desensitized by it. It is not exploded under water by a No. 8
blasting cap.
Clark reports experiments with diazodinitrophenol, mercury
fulminate, and lead azide in which various weights of the explosives
were introduced into No. 8 detonator capsules, pressed
under reenforcing caps at 3400 pounds per square inch, and fired
in the No. 2 sand test bomb. His results, tabulated below, show
that diazodinitrophenol is much more powerful than mercury
fulminate and lead azide. Other experiments by Clark showed
WEIGHT (GRAMS)
OF CHARGE
0.10
020
0.40
0.60
050
1.00
WEIGHT (GR\MS) OF S\ND PULVERIZED
FISEF!
TH\X 30-MESH BY
Diazodinitroplienol
Mercury
Fulminate Lead Azide
9.1 31 35
19.3 6.5 72
362 17.0 U2
54.3 27.5 21.5
72.1 38 0 28.7
90 6 48 4 36.0