NITROGEN BODIES OF MODERN CHEMISTRY. 207 



We shall have the compouud represented iu Fig. 11 — 



Fig. 11. Fig. 12. 



OOOOCOO CXD CO 



Q®®COOO OO OO 



CO 

 OO 



Fig. 12 represents the molecules of water extracted. 

 (In this again) we have fulminate of mercury and water. Finally, if in 

 the above nitroacetonitryl (N'" C/'" H2' N'" O2") we substitute nitryl for 

 the two hydrogen atoms, we obtain tri-nitro-acetouitryl — 



Fig. 13. 



ceo 



CX)COO 



()CX)CO 



^cpo ceo 



a substance which forms crystals transparent as water, resembling 

 naphthaline, and which on exposure to air emits a disagreeable odor, a 

 body which liquifies at 45° aud at 120° ex})lodes with violence, rend- 

 ing its way through all obstacles. ]S"ow, whence arises this explosive 

 force of the nitrogen bodies '? 



It comes in this wise : from the substitution of oxygen for hydrogen 

 there occurs so intimate a blending of combustibles and supporters of 

 combustion that on contact with a spark, on the signal given for decom- 

 position, the whole mass with tempest swiftness, so to speak, burns up 

 at once. 



At the instant of combustion this solid substance is resolved into 

 elastic tluids tending to exx)and, and, moreover, by reason of the 

 augmented temperature attendant on the process of decomposition 

 already expanded to a remarkable degree, aud therefore filling a space 

 many hundred times greater than before. If, by raising its temperature 

 to 120° I should cause the decomposition of this body in the glass tube, 

 in which, to prevent accidents, it is usually liquefied, there would result 

 in place of this small quantity a volume hundreds of times larger than 

 the tube; its cohesion being overcome, the glass would be shattered, and, 

 with a report like that of fire-arms, the gas would escape into the air. 



The effect of the common explosive gas depends on the intimate 

 blending of the inflammatory oxygen with the combustible hydrogen. 



