Fulminate of Mercury?

[Nountaineer]

My mining engineer/ chemist friend once told me I almost blew myself up when I added ethyl alcohol to Mercury dissolved in strong nitric acid. A puff of smoke came out of the beaker and it started boiling rapidly. The alcohol was for smelling salts type of use because it also had ammonia in it. My friend didn't know what effect the ammonia had on that reaction. Can anyone here tell me what effect it had on it?

 

[eaglekeeper]

Did you have anything precipitate out of solution when you added alcohol or ammonia?.

 

[Nountaineer]

Did you have anything precipitate out of solution when you added alcohol or ammonia?.

I do not recall seeing any.

 

[eaglekeeper]

For good reason we don't discuss the chemistry of this type of topic. I just wanted to make sure you haven't already made something that was unsafe.

 

[patnor1011]

That puff of smoke you described may very well shorted your life expectancy if inhaled.

 

[QMFB]

You only live once... Unless the ER brings you back, then it's just a nightmare.

 

[Nountaineer]

For good reason we don't discuss the chemistry of this type of topic. I just wanted to make sure you haven't already made something that was unsafe.

The incident was in 1996 and is yet unresolved so I asked. Your group apparently is mature enough and I assumed that this might be very instructional about what not to do.

 

[Ultrax]

My mining engineer/ chemist friend once told me I almost blew myself up when I added ethyl alcohol to Mercury dissolved in strong nitric acid. A puff of smoke came out of the beaker and it started boiling rapidly. The alcohol was for smelling salts type of use because it also had ammonia in it. My friend didn't know what effect the ammonia had on that reaction. Can anyone here tell me what effect it had on it?

If there is ammonia in the solution, then you will get Millon's base salt:
Hg(NO3)2 + NH3 + H2O→ [Hg2N]NO3 + NH4NO3 + H2O
But the main problem is the fast explosive decomposition of strong nitric acid under the influence of ethanol. A very unpredictable and dangerous reaction.
The formation of mercury fulminate requires slightly different conditions. You won't receive it.

 

[Nountaineer]

If there is ammonia in the solution, then you will get Millon's base salt:
Hg(NO3)2 + NH3 + H2O→ [Hg2N]NO3 + NH4NO3 + H2O
But the main problem is the fast explosive decomposition of strong nitric acid under the influence of ethanol. A very unpredictable and dangerous reaction.
The formation of mercury fulminate requires slightly different conditions. You won't receive it.

Thank you, I don't live that dangerously any more. I just interact with bear and lion. They seem to tolerate me. The local lion was less than 10 ft behind me 3 years ago.