ATTEMPT TO DECOMPOSE CHLORINE. 73 



10. Potassium chlorate, itself a body which liberates -f 11,000 

 cal. (KC10 3 = 122-6 grms.) when decomposing into oxygen and 

 potassium chloride, may undergo this decomposition at an 

 ordinary temperature, if struck violently with a hammer on an 

 anvil, after being enveloped in a thin sheet of platinum. It has 

 been found, in fact, that in this way an appreciable quantity of 

 chloride is found. Pure chlorate, in a state of fusion, explodes 

 much more easily, and sometimes of itself, if the heating be too 

 sudden. This detonation has been the cause of more than one 

 accident in laboratories. 



11. As a further instance may be mentioned celluloid (a 

 variety of nitro-cotton, mixed with various substances). At 

 ordinary temperatures it is a very stable substance. The author, 

 however, observed that this body explodes when brought up to 

 the temperature at which it softens, and in this state struck 

 with a hammer on an anvil. 



Generally speaking, compounds and explosive mixtures 

 become more and more sensitive to shocks in proportion as they 

 approach the temperature of their initial decomposition (see 

 p. 37). 



12. Two other experiments were made, which it may be 

 useful to point out, in spite of their negative character. One of 

 them consisted in exploding the fulminate in an atmosphere of 

 gaseous chlorine. Assuming the compound nature of chlorine 

 regarded as an endothermal radical containing oxygen, one 

 would have been able to observe the products of the decomposi- 

 tion caused by the explosion of the fulminate, yet the results 

 were negative, as, of course, was to be expected, in accordance 

 with received ideas. The chlorine had scarcely been introduced 

 into the atmosphere when the fulminate exploded of itself, yet 

 the chlorine was not destroyed. 



This gas having been subsequently absorbed by agitating 

 it with mercury, carbonic oxide and nitrogen remained in the 

 proportion of gaseous volumes answering to the fulminate ; that 

 is to say, without any excess of carbonic acid, or of any other 

 product formed at the expense of the chlorine. 



13. An attempt was also made to destroy glucose, on the 

 assumption that fermentations are exothermal operations. 1 A 

 strong capsule of fulminate, containing 1*5 grms. of this body, 

 was exploded in a metallic cartridge completely filled with an 

 aqueous 20% solution of glucose. But the result was negative. 



14. In fine, acetylene, cyanogen, and arseniuretted hydrogen, 

 that is to say, gases formed by the absorption of heat but 

 which do not explode by simple heating, may be caused to 

 explode under the influence of a sudden and very violent 

 shock, such as that which results from the explosion of the 

 mercury fulminate. This shock, in reality, only reaches a 



1 " Essai de Mdcanique Chimique," torn. xi. p. 55. 



