
Things I Won't Work With: Chlorine Azide - joe_bleau
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/02/25/things_i_wont_work_with_chlorine_azide.php
======
_delirium
The whole "things I won't work with" category is a good read:
[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with...](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/)

along with the related category, "how not to do it":
<http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/how_not_to_do_it/>

------
Jabbles
_It remains, with its chemical relatives, off in a part of chemical science
that's safe from human exploitation._

Although _Sodium Azide_ is used in systems which save thousands of lives every
year - car airbags.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_azide>

~~~
Natsu
Older ones, yes. Newer ones use nitroguanidine and other less-toxic stuff
according to the article you linked to.

That said, we owe a lot to the brave chemists who manage to figure out how to
deal with all these scary chemicals. Even if some of them are probably insane:

[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_won...](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride.php)

I love how the chemical can be written as FOOF, which is strangely reminiscent
of the bogus F00F C7C8 instruction that could crash old Pentiums.

~~~
derleth
> I love how the chemical can be written as FOOF, which is strangely
> reminiscent of the bogus F00F C7C8 instruction that could crash old
> Pentiums.

Or the sound a small explosion might make, which is the first thing most
people would think of. ;-)

------
Loic
A drawing of the molecule (ClN3): <http://chemeo.com/cid/31-110-4> just
looking at it, you think, ouch! Insane high level of bounds tension coupled
with a Cl detonator.

~~~
Evgeny
Well, bond tension by itself is not the indicator of explosiveness, isn't it?
The N2 molecule has 3 bonds connecting 2 atoms and it is one of the most
stable known molecules.

~~~
timr
A triple-bond is not inherently unstable. In chlorine azide, though, you've
got a strongly electronegative halide (chlorine) bound via tenuous single-bond
to a partial triple-bond in the nitrogen compound. One of those nitrogens has
a partial charge at all times.

Bottom line: that chlorine wants to dissociate, badly. When it does, it's
going to take the azide with it. It's like a chemical hair-trigger, waiting to
be pulled by the nearest partial charge.

------
hinathan
Say it yourself a few times: "I love software"

------
js2
Previous submissions:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1148425> (with discussion)

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1560128>

~~~
gjm11
Those aren't previous submissions of _this entry_ , but of (in one case) an
earlier "Thing I won't work with" and (in the other) the series as a whole,
which didn't then include this one.

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berntb
I love this series of blog posts, especially since I have studied a bit of
organic chemistry and loved that lab work (a _very_ one-sided love affair).

As an old "fan" of rocket fuels in general and peroxides in particular, I
still giggle a bit nervously at the chemical formula FOOF...

Edit:
[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_won...](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride.php)
"If the paper weren't laid out in complete grammatical sentences and published
in JACS, you'd swear it was the work of a violent lunatic."

~~~
bjelkeman-again
Read the comments in the linked article. You'll enjoy it.

~~~
berntb
I did, when I read it originally a year ago, or so. They are often as good as
the blog post.

------
tastybites
Sometimes I forget that there's entire armies of geeks that do crazy complex
things other than compyooterz.

