RACI Awards 2017–19

Fulminating Gold and Silver

“…For example, dissolve gold in HNO 3 /HCl, add ammonium nitrate, and neutralize with soda ash (Na 2 CO 3 ), as this author confirmed as a teenager using readily available materials. [15] It needs to be mentioned that a claim to the preparation of fulminating gold already in the 15th century by a certain Basil Valentin [16] (Figure 2) was made by Johann Thölde (1565-1614), but in all likelihood he wrote the books attributed to Valentin himself, at least in part, and it is believed that this could not have been earlier than 1590, [17,18] but Schwaertzer referred to him as Bas. Val.…”