The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

•112 PRIMARY EXPLOSIVES, DETOXATORS, AND PRIMERS
azides necessary to cause the detonation of various high explosives.
SMALLEST AMOUNT
(GRAMS) WHICH WILL
CAUSK DETONATION OK:
Cadmium azide
Silver, azide
Lead azide . .
Cuprous axide . ...
Mercurous a/.ide ....
Thallium aitfde
Silver fulminate
Cadmium fulminate.
Copper fulminate .
Mercury fulminate. .
Thallium fulminate...
Tetryl
0.01
0.02
0.025
0.025
0.045
0.07
0.02
0.008
0.025
0.29
0.30
Picric
Acid
0.02
0.035
0.025
0.045
0.075
0.115
0.05
0.05
0.08
0.30
0.43
Trinitrotoluene
0.04
0.07
0.09
0.095
0.145
0.335
0.095
0.11
0.15
0.36
Trinitroanisol
0.1
0.26
0.28
0.375
0.55
0.23
0.26
0.32
0.37
Trinitroxylene
0.25
0.40
0.50
0.30
0.35
0.43
0.40
From these data it is apparent that mercury fulminate is by
no means the most efficient initiating agent aiming the fulminates
and azides. Silver fulminate is about 15 times as efficient as
mercury fulminate for exploding tetryl, but only about % as
efficient for exploding trinitroxylenc. Mercury fulminate however
will tolerate a higher temperature, and is much less sensitive to
shock and friction, than silver fulminate. Lead azide, which has
about the same initiating power as silver fulminate, has an ex-
plosion temperature more than 100° higher than that of mercury
fulminate. Many other interesting inferences arc possible from
the data. Among them we ought especially to note that the order
of the several fulminates and azides with respect to their efficiency
in detonating one explosive is not always the same as their order
with respect to their efficiency in detonating another.
Silver Fulminate
Silver fulminate is so sensitive and so dangerous to handle
that it has not been used for practical purposes in blasting or
in the military art. It early found use in toys, in tricks, and in
such devices for entertainment as those which Christopher Grotz
described in 1818 in his book on "The Art of Making Fireworks,
Detonating Balls, &e."