Chemical database: 25. Ammonium nitrate

Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) comes in form of white crystals or white powder at standard conditions. Density = 1.73 g/cm3. Melting point = 169°C. Boiling point = 210°C (at that temperature, it decomposes to H2O and N2O). The solubility of this compound in water depends greatly on temperature (for example, at 0°C, 100 ml of water can dissolve 119 grams of NH4NO3, but at the temperature of 80°C, 100 ml of water can dissolve about 630 grams of ammonium nitrate). Ammonium nitrate is one of the most important salts of nitric acid. It is used as an explosive - alone, or often mixed with other compounds to increase its power. One on the most common compositions is ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil) which is basically a mixture of ammonium nitrate and diesel or kerosene. Ammonium nitrate is also used as a mineral fertilizer, because of the high amount of nitrogen that it contains. Packed in specific kind of plastic bags, known as cold packs, it is used for heat absoprtion (these bags mostly have two parts: one in which ammonium nitrate is located, and one in which water is located. When these two parts are mixed together, an endothermic reaction occurs, which absorbs surrounding heat). It is also used in the production of nitrous oxide (N2O), in the processing of certain types of ore, in the lab production of nitric acid, etc.

Ammonium nitrate can be found in agricultural shops, mostly simply under the name of "AN". The only problem is that it is mostly packed in larger bags. Instead of buying a whole bag, one can perhaps ask a bunch of farmers if they would be willing to contribute by giving one a small amount of this compound. Ammonium nitrate can also be found in chemical selling companies. It can also be extracted from other kinds of mineral fertilizers that contain this compound (for example - CAN fertilizers).