Detonation Memes

Ever notice how chemists casually chat with compounds that would send the rest of us to the emergency room? That's azidotetrazole, possibly the most sensitive explosive known to chemistry. Touch it wrong? BOOM. Breathe on it? BOOM. Look at it sideways? BOOM. The compound is so unstable that chemists joke it could detonate if you even think about measuring its sensitivity. Yet here's our cartoon buddy having a friendly conversation with certain death, like it's just another Tuesday in the lab. Chemistry's version of playing with fire—except this fire plays back.