Why is Lead Azide explosive?
Answer:
Lead azide is very unstable because of the nitrogen. You have a large lead ion surrounded by three very large nitrogen ions. Basically you have van der waals repulsion forces between the nitrogen ions and the lead in a tetrahedral arrangement in space. Any instability in the molecule and it will become unstable and explode releasing the nitrogen.
That is basically how sodium azide in airbags work. When a car gets it it creates instability and it releases the nitrogen to inflate the bag.
PbN3 is very unstable since the decomposing reaction to the constituents is highly exothermic, whereas PbN3 itself is the product of a highly endothermic reaction.
Lead azide is explosive because of the azide (N3) group. Azides violently decompose and are therefore explosive. I saw an azide explosion once where the unfortunate individual blew all their fingers off their hand. Hope this helps.
Note for the non-chemists: lead azide is Pb(N3)2. The azide group is naturally unstable; it has a tendency to decompose into nitrogen. When it receives enough energy, whether from a jolt, electric shock, or heat, it quickly (and therefore explosively) decomposes.
The addition of a heavy metal like lead, mercury, silver, or copper makes it even more unstable.
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