For trawnapanda

[chrishansenhome]

A high school classmate of mine, Derek, is some sort of chemist for a pharmaceutical company. Now I know nothing about chemistry except what I have absorbed from teh Intarwebz, but his blog seems to be an interesting one. He has a post on a substance with the intriguing name of chlorine azide, which seems to be one of a family of compounds that explodes at the drop of a hat…pin. He writes very well, and even a scientific ignoramus like me can understand most of it. You might want to mosey over there in case you like it too.

Comments

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

thank you - an amusing read.

there's always a certain fascination with explosive solids - nitrogen triiodide NI₃ is one, chlorine azide is another. All azides (N₃^-) are explosive.

While I played about with NI₃ in small quantities as an undergrad, and the acetone-hydrogen peroxide product(*) in small (as in: about 1/10 of a sugarcube) quantities, there's no way in creation I'd voluntarily deal with azides -- especially those that had the investigators wearing plate steel labcoats. I must be a wuss, I guess.

(*) similar to the stuff used in the London Underground bombings, but not nearly that quantity

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

At the secondary school that Derek and I both attended there were several retired Brothers who had been Chemistry teachers but who were shifted to other duties after blowing up labs or otherwise damaging the property or themselves.

So keeping well away from chlorine azide seems to be a wise career choice (not to mention life choice).