Nitrogen based explosion,Beruit 2020.
Posted on 08/03/2025 5:51:22 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
Slashdot reader ffkom writes: The air around you mostly consists of nitrogen [78%]. And in that air exist happy little monogamous pairs of two nitrogen atoms per molecule, also known as N2. Researchers from the University of Giessen, Germany, recently managed to synthesize N6 molecules, "the first, to our knowledge, experimentally realized neutral molecular nitrogen allotrope beyond N2 that exhibits unexpected stability."
And these appear to be pretty angry little molecules, as they detonate at more than twice the energy density than good old TNT:
A kiloton of N6 is 1.19×10**7mol, which can release an energy of 2.20×109kcal (9.21terajoules) based on the enthalpy. Considering that the standard kiloton TNT equivalent is 4.184terajoules, N6 can release 2.2 times the energy of TNT of the same weight. On the basis of the documented TNT equivalent based on weight for HMX (1.15) and RDX (1.15), N6 can release 1.9 times the energy of HMX or RDX with the same weight.
In interviews the researchers contemplated the possibility of using N6 as rocket fuel, given its superior energy density and that its reaction product is just N2, so basically air, but no smoke, no CO2 or other potentially harmful substances.
Gateway Pundit: “BOOM! Scientists create N6!”
BIG-Ba-Da-BOOM!
Don’t sneeze.
“I guess it would depend on The cost and amount of energy needed to synthesize it.”
my first thought as well ... pretty much any chemical reaction that produces energy had to have had that same amount of energy as well as byproduct/waste energy input into the ultimate components of that reaction at one or more points of the synthesis chain of said components, even if the energy ultimately came from the sun driving photosynthesis of the plants that end up storing solar energy in the form of coal or petroleum ...
Luckily, you cannot hold that stuff in your hands.
Nitrogen based explosion,Beruit 2020.
> I guess it would depend on The cost and amount of energy needed to synthesize it.
Yes. Unless they have have developed a cheap and safe chemosynthesis process for this the price would be prohibitively expensive.
Chemists have known for decades that the hypothetical N4, N5, N6 and N8 molecules would release large amounts of energy when decomposing to N2, and would have high density, but a simple and safe synthesis path has always been out of reach.
Also, in order to use a high-energy molecule as a rocket propellant, you generally need a liquid that can function for chamber and nozzle cooling.
In short - Hexanitrogen is a lab curiosity, and is unlikely to have any practical applications in rocketry, explosives, or anything else.
So the air will explode one day?... 💣
Not at all. He enjoys a good "sandwich" now and then.
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