Nitrogen Triiodide Instructions, ca. 1890

From The Young Folks Cyclopædia of Games and Sports, P. 442
Powder some iodine fine, and
put a very little of it (about as
much as will lie on quarter of an
inch of the small blade of a knife)
into a small saucer. Pour in
enough strong ammonia water to
cover it, and let it stand for about
20 minutes. Then either stir the
powder up, and filter it (see CHEM-
ICAL
EXPERIMENTS) or pour off most
of the ammonia, and then pour the
powder on a piece of blotting-paper.
Place the filter-paper or blotting-
paper where it will dry in the sun.
When it is perfectly dry, rub a stick
on the powder, or even brush a
feather over it, and it will explode
with a crackling noise. Though it
has not changed in looks, the iodine
has been made by the ammonia into
a very explosive substance called
Nitrogen Iodide. The reason why
so little iodine was used, is that
otherwise the explosion might be
dangerous.

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