One of the great “scientific” endeavors of the Middle Ages was the study of Chrysopoeia, the process of turning base metals such as lead into gold. Most practitioners were doomed to failure but one German alchemist named Sebalt Schwarzer made a single contribution that has stood the test of time.
In his 1585 tome, Chrysopoeia Schwaertzeriana, he describes the synthesis of the world’s first high explosive, a substance known as fulminating gold. This crystalline substance turns almost instantly into a cloud of purple and red smoke in a reaction that travels at supersonic speeds. Hence the high explosive (a low explosive burns at subsonic speeds). Fulminating gold is relatively easy to make but highly unstable, detonated by hear or even touch.
This instability has made it difficult to study. Its crystal structure is poorly understood and even its chemical formula defied analysis until recently. It turns out that fulminating gold ...
