Some electrical and chemical effects of the explosion of azoimide

Abstract

Introduction .—In a paper published some years ago, the amount of electricity liberated by exploding electrolytic gas (2H 2 + O 2 ) at certain pressures was measured and compared with the number of molecules of water formed by the explosion. It was found that about 10 7 molecules of water were formed for every pair of gaseous ions that reached the electrodes, and that the energy required to produce the observed quantity of electricity was an extremely small fraction of the energy set free by the explosion. The present investigation was undertaken to see whether these results would be substantially modified in the ease of the explosion of azoimide (HN 3 ). The explosion of this gas differs from that of electrolytic gas in two important particulars from the point of view of these experiments. In the first place it is disruptive, and secondly it is not productive of water-vapour, which with its well-known influence upon the motion of gaseous ions may, by promoting their re-combination, greatly obscure the electrical effects of the explosion.