The Explosive Element?

Discussion in 'Chemistry' started by Carcano, May 21, 2008.

  1. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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    Tell me...why is it that almost all explosive compounds contain nitrogen?

    Theres nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, dinitrogen tetroxide. trinitrotoluene (TNT), and so on???
     
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  3. andbna Registered Senior Member

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    Conformation bias? Oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen are also usualy presant; in almost all of your examples too. It is a very common element.
    That said, Nitrogen forms a very strong triple bond with itself (N2), having one of the highest enthalpies (edit: lowest actualy, it's negative, since the formation is exothermic) of any bond type. As such, allot of energy is released when N2 is formed as a resault of the combustion of a nitrogen containing compound (more energy, bigger boom).
    It further (to a lesser extent) has the advantage of being able to bond with up to 3 molecules, versus the 2 oxygen can, or 1 with hydrogen, and as such, one can form more complex molecules using nitrogen. Of course, carbon also offers numerous bonding points, and hence, you will find it presant in almost every complex molecule. And the more complex the molecule, the more molecules it will decompose into (and it's the substantial increase in number of molecules which creates the actual explosion.)

    Anyway, this is all just generalizations.
    -Andrew
     
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  5. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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    Enthalpies?
     
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  7. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    I guess because the triple bond in nitrogen (N2) is very strong (not sure how much),
    so its reaction is highly exothermic (can release high energy in form of heat).
     
  8. andbna Registered Senior Member

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    Basicaly, a measurement of heat (energy, the unit is joules) of a system. Bond enthalpies denote how much energy is required/released toform/break a particular chemical bond. The wikipedia has a suitable entry, see the Heats of reaction heading.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy
    Often, the bond enthalpies are not entirely accurate, and the standard enthalpies of formation of specific molecules as a whole are used. You should steal a gr12 or 1st year chem textbook for more info.
    -Andrew
     
  9. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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  10. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    Largely it's because nitrates have always been readily available and easy to compound into explosives. There is not another oxidizer that is easy to find in nature, and most animal life produces nitrates in their feces. We literally make explosives out of shit.
     
  11. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    That's incorrect - it contains very little nitrogen compounds. But urine contains a GREAT deal of nitrogen.
     
  12. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    Bat guano. Bull shit.
     
  13. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Wrong again. It's because both also contain urine. The droppings are largely carboniferous in nature but the urine contains large amounts of UREA - a natural product of carbohydrate digestion/utilization - along with other nitrogen-based salts.

    Rather than continuing to be wrong, do just a little bit of research on urea and it will all become clear.

    Edit: When I said digestion/utilization above, the actual word I wanted to use was metabolism - just wouldn't come to me at that moment.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2008
  14. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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    Come to think of it, isnt there a distinction to be made between the energy density of chemical bonds and the speed of their re-arrangement.

    For example Ive read that a kilo of coal has far more potential energy than a kilo of nitroglycerin.

    However that energy is released very slowly through combustion, whereas nitro's energy is released in a split second through explosion.

    The only difference between combustion and explosion is TIME.

    So any explanation why certain elements can be explosive in combination would have to be time specific.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2008
  15. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    The element it self is not explosive rather due to nitrogen electron configuration it can form molecules that are unstable, these molecules either have very low activation energy needed for them to drop down to much more stable configuration and or are susceptible to self catalyzing run away reactions.
     
  16. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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    How is that time specific?
     
  17. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    A low activation energy usually increase the chance a reaction will take place, or thus the rate it will take to reach equilibrium, if the activation energy is high the rate will be very slow if at all happening, if the activation energy is low and the reaction is self catalysis the reaction once started will reach equilibrium nearly instantly.
     
  18. Carcano Valued Senior Member

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    There we go...thats the answer I was looking for.
     

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