Posted 29.03.2006 at 9:10 am
3 Comments
Apparently, this is oxymoron day. Healthy bacon. Silent snowmobiles... What's next—eco-friendly bombs? Well, sort of: Scientists have developed a novel substance that will blow things up without scattering the surrounding terrain with poisonous lead. Called nitrotetrazole, the chemical is good for use as a primary explosive—the highly sensitive, low-power compounds that set off ultra-powerful high explosives. Even better, the compound is inert when wet but recovers all its explosive punch once it dries out again. —Martha Harbison
If it is explosive again once it dries out, wouldn't every place it is used become a sort or perpetual minefield?
I think the point is it just doesn't contain lead right?
ghi - no. Too little of the uncombusted nitrotetrazole would be left in the environment to pose a hazard. One would need a lot of the compound concentrated in a very small area to cause any problems.
Mathias - yes. The stability of the compound while wet was a unexpected finding.