Quote:
Try dropping a pinch of starch , paraformaldehyde , or sodium nitrite into the reaction mixture to start the reaction.
5.4 g of red mercury oxide (HgO) was dissolved in 50 ml of room temperature 70% HNO3 in a 500 ml beaker, resulting in a clear solution with no visible fuming and only a mild warming.
50 ml of denatured ethanol was measured out, 25 ml of which was quickly added to the Mercury nitrate solution. After about 5 minutes, no visible reaction was noted. At this time, .25 g of Sodium nitrite (NaNo2) was added to the beaker. A mild effervescence and a change of the solution to a slightly yellowish color was noted after a few moments. The effervescence accelerated, with self heating and development of heavy white fumes. When the reaction seemed in need of moderation to prevent bubbling over, the remaining 25 ml of alcohol was added to the mix in several small portions. An additional 20 ml of alcohol was also added for purposes of reaction moderation after the initial 50 ml was expended, bringing the total to 70 ml.
About 30 minutes after the onset of effervescence, the reaction had subsided and a considerable amount of a light grayish precipitate had settled out. The contents of the beaker was added to about 200 ml of distilled water and the solids filtered out in a Buchner funnel. The retained solids were washed with several portions of water and then given a final wash with alcohol.
The first obtained solids weighed 5.1 g after drying, and were of a yellowish/grayish color and needle like crystal shape.
These solids were dissolved in 80 ml of 30% ammonia and the liquid filtered. The filtered liquid was carefully neutralized with glacial acetic acid, the resulting precipitate filtered out, washed with water and then alcohol and dried. The precipitate weighed 3.65 g after drying and was a dense sparkly white powder similar in appearance to fine table sugar consisting of small crystals, quite different in shape from the crystals of the initial product.
The product displayed the characteristics of mercury fulminate, deflagrating in small quantities in the open and detonating violently in larger quantities or if confined. The entire remaining batch was mixed in 80:20 ratio with Potassium chlorate and detonated, as dry storage seemed inadvisable and no use was anticipated for a primary explosive... "It made a jolly bang"