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mercury fulminate

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noun Chemistry.
a gray, crystalline solid, Hg(CNO)2, used chiefly in the manufacture of commercial and military detonators.
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Also called fulminate of mercury.

Origin of mercury fulminate

First recorded in 1900–05
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mercury fulminate in a sentence

  • Mercury fulminate is more often employed in the detonator, and is prepared from mercury, alcohol, and nitric acid.

  • Chemistry advances, like the isolation of mercury fulminate in 1800, led to the invention of the percussion cap and other primers.

  • It is a more powerful explosive than mercury fulminate, and has been used instead, in the manufacture of detonators.

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