Know Your Chemicals | Buckminsterfullerene (Buckyball) | Trinitrotoluene (TNT) | Hexogen (RDX) |

Chemical Compounds

Some are safe and part of our daily lives, some are hazardous and deadly. Today we talk about three Chemicals/minerals in details. The three chemicals/minerals are: Buckminsterfullerene , Trinitrotoluene (TNT), Hexogen (RDX).

Chemical Compound	Chemical Formula	Mol. weight	Chem CID
Buckminsterfullerene	C60	720.642 g/mol	123591
Trinitrotoluene (TNT)	C7H5N3O6	227.1311 g/mol	8376
Hexogen (RDX)	C3H6N6O6	222.11634 g/mol	8490

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Buckminsterfullerene

Also known as:
Fullerene C60; Buckminsterfullerene; [60]fullerene; Footballene; Buckyball; Fullerene.

Physical Description:
Spherical aromatic molecule with a hollow truncated-icosahedron structure, similar to a soccer ball.

General information:

Buckminsterfullerene is a spherical shaped allotrope of carbon discovered in 1985. Three professors are credited with the discovery of fullerenes, a family of symmetrical carbon-cage molecules. Buckyball is the the most abundant and well-known carbon-cage molecule consisting of 60 carbon atoms. This huge molecule is being studied by many scientists for its ability to serve as a conductor, insulator, semiconductor, and superconductor.

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Trinitrotoluene

Also known as:
TNT; Trinitrotoluene; 2,4,6-TRINITROTOLUENE; Trotyl; S-Trinitrotoluol; S-Trinitrotoluene; Tolite.

Physical Description:
Colorless to pale-yellow crystals, odorless solid or crushed flakes.

General information:

2,4,6-trinitrotoluene is a yellow, odorless solid that does not occur naturally in the environment. It is commonly known as TNT and is an explosive used in military shells, bombs, and grenades, in industrial uses, and in underwater blasting. 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene production in the United States occurs solely at military arsenals. TNT is not the same as dynamite, a special formulation of nitroglycerin for use as an industrial explosive. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard measure of bombs and other explosives. TNT was first prepared in 1863 by German chemist Julius Wilbrand and originally used as a yellow dye.

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Hexogen

Also known as:
Hexogen; CYCLONITE; Hexolite; Geksogen; Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine; Trimethylenetrinitramine;.

Physical Description:
White, crystalline powder, or colorless crystals.

General information:

RDX stands for Royal Demolition eXplosive. It is also known as cyclonite or hexogen. The chemical name for RDX is 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine. It is a white powder and is very explosive. RDX is used as an explosive and is also used in combination with other ingredients in explosives. Its odor and taste are unknown. It is a synthetic product that does not occur naturally in the environment. It creates fumes when it is burned with other substances.

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Commentary:

Today I wanted to talk about chemical compounds which sparked the race to arms in the early twentieth century and caused mass killings of unprecedented proportions. And how these compounds continued development after the first and second world wars. The 20th century was tainted with wars and wars will eventually taint 21st century.

I removed one of the compounds and replaced with Buckyballs at the request of @sigmajin in my previous post. Buckyball is going through many promising studies for use as a superconductor and a 3D optical data storage.

Back to our explosive chemicals, I wanted to share some data that might be unknown to most of us. Since the invention of TNT most explosive and weaponized chemical compounds manufacturing has taken place in the so called civilized first world countries, mainly USA, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. 99.9% of the explosives and weapons used by terrorists have an origin of manufacture in these five countries.

99.9% of the explosives that caused death or injury to an American soldier in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were recycled from unexploded ordinances that were dropped on these countries, or had an origin of manufacture from first world countries.

Terrorism does not have a shared definition among the top weapons supplying countries. One terrorist group is another's freedom fighting group and vice versa. The countries that suffer the most from terrorist attacks are those involved in the manufacture of weapons or involved some way or another in weapons trading.

Conclusion

One day mankind will learn to reject violence as means of conflict resolution, and that alone will end terrorism. While TNT had great uses in the building of roads, tunnels, bridges, railroads, and in the mining industries, the word TNT has become synonymous with death and destruction.

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Sources: National Center for Biotechnology Information. Wikipedia. Reciprocal Net Common. Images by Pixabay, Wikimedia commons.