Talk:Mercury(II) fulminate

Preparation
I simplified the Preparation section avoiding too detailed instructions os the explosive preparation. As already duscussed in other articles on explosives, this is not a terrorist handbook (there are plenty of those on the net already)...The preparation is commented, without being a cookbook on its synthesis. JEFCG 17:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

And for those of us with curiosity: http://www.roguesci.org/chemlab/energetics/mercury_fulminate.html

Enjoy responsibly 68.0.144.113 (talk) 01:03, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Synthesis
I have added a summary of a current synthesis for this substance. I think it is enough for a text book or encyclopedia entry. I have not given my reference as it contains experimental detail.

Socksysquirrel 23:03, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Appearance
Curious as to physical appearance of the substance. depicted on tv show Breaking Bad as clear, glass-like.--Jrm2007 (talk) 08:02, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Breaking Bad
While such trivia may be interesting, we're writing an encyclopedia here, and listing every single mention of mercury fulminate in popular culture will be ridiculous. It might be more appropriate to wikilink mercury fulminate in the article concerning this (supposedly) television show. --Rifleman 82 (talk) 17:36, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi there

I previously removed your edit, noting on the edit summary to refer to th[is] talk page...Have you considered my arguments against including such information, before re-adding it? --Rifleman 82 (talk) 07:57, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi, Rifleman....just for the record, I'm not the same guy as the first person who reverted your removal of the pop culture reference to Hg(ONC)2 in Breaking Bad.  But I happened to see your comment here, so I took a look at the edit history to see what the previous version said (although I admit I already had a pretty good idea of what to expect). After seeing the previous version, I found myself agreeing with the other guy that (in my humble opinion) the pop culture reference did add something to this article.  I don't believe that listing every single mention of mercury fulminate in popular culture would be ridiculous, because, frankly...there's only one. :-) (You should see the unbelievably long lists of pop culture references that can be found in other Wikipedia articles!)  Compared to that, this one single mention seems harmless and (I think) makes the article more interesting.  (Indeed, what do you suppose inspired me to come here to the Mercury Fulminate article? )  I vote to let it stay.  Respectfully, 24.6.66.193 (talk) 08:38, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I've removed the content again - it's too much trivia for a very short article. You could move it to the Breaking Bad article. If you came here because you saw mercury fulminate being used on TV, you don't need reminding that it appears on TV!

Ben (talk) 13:13, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * One item of trivia is too much??? 24.6.66.193 (talk) 04:13, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I had never heard of this until I saw the show. I think it would be helpful if someone could verify if the substance really could look like that and explode with that much force. I think the reference would be worth mentioning if it was in that context. Stungravy (talk) 19:27, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't look like in "breaking bad", the crystals are much smaller and whiter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.244.110.95 (talk) 08:32, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to go ahead and say that I think a cultural reference section would be a good idea. I care a great deal about science and get the notion that putting this in here is a bit silly, but this is something of an encyclopedia for "right now", and I think references, like the Breaking Bad one, are very useful and relevant. Out of Phase User (talk) 21:00, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Brave New World
Interestingly enough, this also appears in Brave New World. An excerpt: "Ch3C6H2(NO2)3+Hg(CNO)2=well, what? An enormous hole in the ground, a pile of masonry, some bits of flesh and mucus, a foot, with the boot still on it, flying through the air and landing, flop, in the middle of the geraniums–the scarlet ones; such a splendid show that summer!" 21:41, 10 May 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Civver3 (talk • contribs)
 * Ya, someone should add this one. 69.135.206.216 (talk) 05:22, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

The American
The Clooney character says he'll produce explosive bullets by loading them with "mercury", and later loads the tip of one with what looks like mercury and comes from a bottle that appears to say "Mercurio" (apparently Italian for the element). Surely the intention is to evoke the fulminate? --Jerzy•t 23:25, 19 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Fulminate has nothing to do with it. Instead it's a totally mechanical process similar to the one of a recoilless hammer. When the bullet impacts, it will slow down while the mercury inside does not, thus violently slamming onto the inside tip of said bullet, forcing it to rapidly expand while the mercury continues as an independent penetrator "exploding" into smaller droplets.

BP 09:00 3 November 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.53.23.22 (talk) 08:04, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
 * This may be the first time I have learned something from a talk page. Awesome, anon. ▫  Johnny Mr Nin ja  23:42, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
 * The relevant point here is that the movie "The American" does not reference mercury fulminate; the article's mention of it is wrong and should be changed. As for the liquid mercury bullets shown in that movie and others sources, look around online and you will find severe doubts it has any validity, so no one has learned much at all here. Jtcarpet (talk) 06:48, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

Oklahoma City Bombing
I removed the fourth reference under the subtitle Popular Culture: "Also listed in the Oklahoma City Bombing state trial records, although nothing was ever done on that matter of inside accomplices in Oklahoma City itself." The entry was not consistent with encyclopedic standards for the following reasons: (a) The entry was not a complete sentence, (b) The entry did not cite the State Trial Records or any other source, (c) The entry concludes that the presence of Mercury Fulminate is evidence of inside accomplices without any supporting evidence, (d) The entry states that there was no investigation of inside accomplices without any citation or support, (e) the entry does not meet the standard of "Popular Culture."

While I agree that a Popular Culture subsection does not add much to our understanding of Mercury(II) Fulminate, this entry strays even farther from the subject at hand. Mercury Fulminate is only being used as the occasion for making alternative conclusions about a highly controversial event in American history. Oromagi (talk) 21:28, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Day of the Jackal reference
There was no fulminated bullet used in Day of the Jackal; removed from popular culture section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.137.79.169 (talk) 01:52, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

Removal
I agree with Rifleman. This article was 1/2 trivia so I have removed it per guidelines as none of it explained the subject's impact on popular culture - rather this was simply a listing of appearances. Toddst1 (talk) 22:01, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Nomenclature
Two thots: --Jerzy•t 23:25, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) M(II)fulm surely is what used to be called "fulminate of mercury", and if so that name must also appear in the lead sentence.
 * 2) The "II" sounds like it refers to the doubly ionized state of the Hg atom. Could a better trained chemist than i word such a statment in the lead paragraph? -- Such detail edges toward inside baseball, but less so than the Roman numerals which i don't recall from my college chem. IMO they deserve at least a link like Hg++. ... Hmmm, or Mercury.

Should not be replicated
"In Law & Order's Season 7, Episode 6 "Double Blind" the killer uses bullets tipped with fulminated mercury to kill a former school janitor. This scene should not be duplicated as mercury fulminate is a very sensitive explosive and would almost certainly detonate in the firing chamber." Otherwise killing school janitors is ok? ;) --89.204.139.161 (talk) 15:03, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

Decomposition
It seems that there is very little chemistry in this article about a chemical compound. I've found several helpful scientific journal entries that, although dated, shed some light on the decomposition reaction of mercury fulminate. Perhaps this section would fit best after the preparation section? NatePhysics (talk) 18:35, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Small contradiction
It says:

"On AMC's Breaking Bad, in Season 1, Episode 6 "Crazy Handful of Nothin", Walter White throws a piece of fulminated mercury to the floor to cause an explosion at Tuco Salamanca's hangout. The effect demonstrated in the scene, while theoretically plausible, is generally considered to have been exaggerated for dramatic effect. [4]However, in the show, the substance is shown to have a crystalline structure, which it does not in reality."

Yet earlier in the preparation section it was stated that:

"Mercury(II) fulminate is prepared by dissolving mercury in nitric acid and adding ethanol to the solution. It was first prepared by Edward Charles Howard in 1800.[1] The crystal structure of this compound was only determined in 2007.[2]"

Meaning Hg(CNO)2 in fact does have a crystalline structure (although it isn't it's "natural" structure).

I hope this helped making the article a bit better and that someone fixes this asap. :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.80.42.73 (talk) 08:52, 27 July 2013 (UTC)

Citation needed? Really?

 * ...supplies of [mercury] can be unreliable in wartime [citation needed].

We need a citation that mercury might be hard to come by in wartime? It's only mined in a handful of countries (ref. cinnabar, the virtually only mineral actually mined for mercury harvesting)... -- 145.228.61.5 (talk) 14:24, 3 September 2015 (UTC)]

Suggestion
I suggest all of that "Breaking Bad", etc. trivia be placed in some sort of "Hg Fulminate in Pop Culture" separate page.

Basesurge (talk) 12:49, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

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