It is quite dangerous. The problem is, it never gets the respect it deserves. (For those who don't know what iodazide is, it's simply another name for Nitrogen Triiodide or Ammonium triiodide. It's an iodine/nitrogen compound that is INCREDIBLY unstable). Iodazide can be stable under water, but that doesn't mean it won't explode. It can still detonate under water if given the right motivation. (You just need a good deal of motivation). The problem is that when it dries you have no control over when it explodes. If you were to make too much of it you could really hurt someone if it goes off when you didn't want it to. Also, the compound is classified as a high explosive due to the way in which it detonates. (It's just not used in the same sense as other high explosives because you have no control over the detonation of it). The power of the explosion also increase dramatically as the sample size increases. It's similar to the situation with throwing sodium or potassium in water. People see small chunks being thrown in and think it would be neat to see a HUGE chunk thrown in water. They then throw a big piece in water and fail to realize that the power of the reaction increases at an incredible rate as the size of the chunk goes up. Many people have gotten hurt when they throw too big a piece into some water. The same thing happens with iodazide. People see a little bit go off and think 'wow, that's cool. I bet a huge pile would be neat to see'. They then proceed to make a bigger pile which results in a much bigger explosion than they anticipate and people/property get hurt. (At my University one of the kids had to go to the hospital because he made some iodazide in his dorm room and set it by the window. A bug or something hit the dry pile causing it to explode and blowing the window out of the dorm. Not only was he hurt by the flying debris, but he had to pay for the window to get replaced and was kicked out of the school. The pile was about the size of a mini-disc).
Another thing people fail to realize is that the detonation products of the reaction result in iodine vapor being thrown in the air. Iodine is a corrosive, reactive element. Inhaling that vapor can cause severe lung problems and damage many things in the area. I'm glad that you understand this and have decided against this 'joke'. If you really want to see it done, ask you chemistry teacher if he/she would demonstrate it for you, or if you could make a tiny amount with their supervision.
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Topic: iodazide (Read 8607 times)