Scientists Confirm Purple Smoke in Fulminating Gold Comes From Nanoparticles of Gold
University of Bristol researchers recently discovered why fulminating gold produces purple smoke, answering a question that has puzzled experts for hundreds of years. Considered the first high explosive in the world, fulminating gold was initially synthesized as early as 1585 by Western alchemist Sebalt Schwartzer. More alchemists refined the compound through the 17th and 18th centuries, steadily shortening the production process and making it safer until modern scientists finally turned what had been a four-to-five day process into only a couple of minutes. Fulminating gold is made from a mixture of chlorine, ammonia and gold. But unlike gunpowder, which was…
