If synthesis and stability were not such formidable issues, would a cube of 8 singly bonded nitrogen atoms form the most powerful chemical explosive
(meaning the highest relative effect) that could be constructed from the periodic chart?
N-N bond lengths: 1.45nm
Cubic packing
Density: 24,000 mol/m3
N-N bond energies: 160 kJ/mol
N[triple bond]N energies: 945 kJ/mole
Steric strain from 109.5deg to 90deg
Energy: 1.86MJ/mole
Each cube detonates into 4 diatomic nitrogen molecules
So detonation of one spherical cubic meter (from the center) would yield 96,000 moles of nitrogen gas and 180 billion joules of energy (and, with a
VOD of 15,000 m/s, about 3.6 quadrillion watts of power)
Without going nuclear, does it get any better than this? (No enhancements of detonations with electric arc or laser plasmifications either.) Bert - 17-12-2014 at 20:04
Quote:
It is okay to be ignorant when first arriving and posting. However, you must be willing to make an effort to learn. If you are unable to cite
references in support of an idea or as background to your question, the post belongs in Beginnings. Questions that provide background information and
show effort are more likely to receive good responses.
I have moved your first post to "beginnings" due to a lack of any links to your source materials or documentation of your own actual experimental
work. Dany - 17-12-2014 at 23:18
Without going nuclear, does it get any better than this?
Yes, theoretically you can get better detonation performance than N8 (octaazacubane). the N60 which is the nitrogen analogue of
the C60 ( buckminsterfullerene) molecule has a detonation performance exceeding that of N8. At a density of 2.67
g/cm<sup>3</sup> the calculated detonation performance is [1]:
DCJ= 17.31 km/s, PCJ= 196 GPa. The estimated heat of formation of N60 is HOF= 546 kcal/mol.
Theoretically, one can have much more detonation performance by using what we call meta-stable clusters [2]. Examples of meta-stable
clusters are the helium exited to the triplet state He2<sup>*</sup> and nitrogen N8 in the form of a boat (not a
cube). The structure of meta-stable boat N8 is shown below:
The predicted density of helium cluster is 3.164 g/cm<sup>3</sup> while that of N8 is 3.186 g/cm<sup>3</sup>. The
authors calculated the detonation performance of the two cluster using CHEETAH thermochemical code. The results shows astonishing detonation
performance. For the N8: DCJ= 19.7 km/s; PCJ= 314 GPa (3.14 Mbar)
For He2<sup>*</sup>: DCJ= 42.8 km/s; PCJ= 1630 GPa (16.3 Mbar).
References:
[1] M. B. Talawar, R. Sivabalan, S. N. Asthana, H. Singh, Combustion, Explosion and Shock Waves2005, 41, 264-277.
[2] A. Kuhl, A. L. Kuhl, L. E. Fried, W. M. Howard, M. R. Seizew, J. B. Bell, V. Beckner, J. F. Grcar, Detonation of Meta-stable Clusters, 39th ICT
Conference on Energetic Materials, 2008.
Dany.
[Edited on 18-12-2014 by Dany]CuReUS - 18-12-2014 at 01:24
the idea is very good actually ,that you thought of the nitrogen analogue of cubane
recently i learnt that the most unstable compound was this
