

Nitrogen: The bringer of life and death - Turukawa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/27731291

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pling
We used to make nitrogen triiodide at school. It was a prank explosive. Well
it was until we destroyed a whole fume cupboard with it. Blew the glass out.

Nitrogen has eternally had my respect after clearing that mess up.

Make your own (insert disclaimer about this being your problem if you blow
yourself up): iodine crystals from eBay/amazon + ammonia concentrate from the
same. Mix small amount together, leave to crystallise on a coffee filter.
Tickle with a feather or add some jam before it is dry to attact flies (it
will blow them up when they land on it). It's relatively safe when wet but the
moment it's dry its incredibly unstable.

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SAI_Peregrinus
[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with...](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/)

Note the high percentage of that list which consists of compounds with far too
many N-N single bonds. Or double bonds, as some of those compounds seem like
someone got in a contest to cram the most azide groups into the smallest
space.

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p1mrx
I wonder how feasible it would be to use ammonia as fuel? NH3 is liquid,
contains no carbon, and releases N2 and water when burned.

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jloughry
Ammonia was the working fluid in household refrigerators throughout the early
20th century, where it killed _lots_ of people. Freon was invented as a safe
replacement for ammonia, and Thomas Midgely was hailed for saving thousands of
lives as a result. Albert Einstein invented a new type of refrigerator that
didn't use ammonia after hearing of the death of an entire family caused by
the explosion of an ammonia refrigerator.

It's still used in commercial refrigeration plants, as it's highly efficient.

~~~
dredmorbius
Trivium: ammonia is known as R-1. Refrigerant 1. Freon is generally R-12.

~~~
p1mrx
Wikipedia thinks it's R-717:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refrigerants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refrigerants)

