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mercury fulminate
Sign in to saveAlso known as fulminate of mercury, mercury(II) fulminate, fulminic acid, mercury(2+) salt, mercury difulminate, fulminic acid, mercury(II) salt
chemical compound
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, mercury fulminate is referenced by 124 other articles, and connects out to mercury, explosive chemicals and nitrogen.
It sits within the topics Chembox having GHS data, ECHA InfoCard ID from Wikidata and Explosive chemicals.
Its subject is documented across 43 Wikipedia language editions.
Chemical data
- Formula
- C2HgN2O2
- Molecular weight
- 284.63 g/mol
- IUPAC name
- dioxycyanomercury
- SMILES
- C(#[N+][O-])[Hg]C#[N+][O-]
- InChIKey
- MHWLNQBTOIYJJP-UHFFFAOYSA-N
- Polar surface area
- 61.3 Ų
- H-bond donors
- 0
- H-bond acceptors
- 2
- Formal charge
- 0
via PubChem
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Mercury(II) fulminate is an explosive with the chemical formula Hg(CNO)2. When recrystallized from water it exists as the hemihydrate 2 Hg(CNO)2·H2O. The anhydrous form is obtained by recrystallization from ethanol. It is highly sensitive to friction, heat and shock and is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and detonators. Mercury(II) cyanate, though its chemical formula is identical, has a different atomic arrangement, making the cyanate and fulminate anionic isomers.
First used as a priming composition in small copper caps beginning in the 1820s, mercury fulminate quickly replaced flints as a means to ignite black powder charges in muzzle-loading firearms. Later, during the late 19th century and most of the 20th century, mercury fulminate became widely used in primers for self-contained rifle and pistol ammunition; it was the only practical detonator for firing projectiles until the early 20th century.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “mercury fulminate” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.