Whats that smell?

[Beswad]

When I was a kid, I use to love playing with my toy gun which fires paper caps. Could someone tell me what's that smell when the caps are fired?

[volvo179]

The caps contained a chemical compound called mercury fulminate.  When the cap explodes the compound breaks down into mercury vapour, which is what you smell, together with nitrogen and carbon monoxide neither of which can be smelt.

[Hamish]

Hi volvo179,

I have often worked with elemental mercury and never noticed a smell....do you have a source for your information.

[JOEYSHABADO]

Ah, that smell.....

[landie]

It depends who you were behind when you fired it.

[Dagman]

memories are made of this!

[kentishbear]

reminds me of when i was a kid i used to unroll the "caps" and run a flint down then making them all go off together, made a real nice cracking noise and like you say.. the smell.... ah the memories that brings back..

[samz90]

This site may help http://www.castlebar.ie/news/article_1625.shtml

[gazzawazza]

Yeah, I loved that smell too.  Thinking about it, I also loved the little round boxes you used to get the caps in, what a great moment it was when you opened a new one.  Aaah memories!

[AllYourBase]

"Chordite " was what my parents used to tell me it was called. Worryingly, I have a degree in chemistry but can't remember!

[Harley]

I think you mean "Cordite"

[BillyBB]

Cordite is a propellent for bullets.

I thought the distinctive smell was red phosphorous.

[Dagman]

I just remembered those little plastic rocket things with with metal plate, plunger and spring in the nose. You put the cap under the plunger and threw the rocket. Oh childhood where did you go?

[brachiopod]

Ahh yes, unwrapping the little round box to put in your toy gun..... then you grew up a year and ended up buying whole tubes of the things so that you could hit an entire roll of them with a single 4lb lump-hammer blow.......