What sensitive compound injured Davy and Faraday in an explosion?

The sensitive compound that injured Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday in an explosion was nitrogen trichloride.

Nitrogen trichloride, also called nitrogen chloride, is an extremely shock-sensitive and explosive compound. Davy investigated it in the early nineteenth century, when chemists were still learning how chlorine combined with other elements and had limited understanding of molecular structure and explosive hazards.

An accident in 1813 damaged Davy’s eyesight. Faraday was also injured while carrying out later experiments with the substance, suffering harm in several explosions. The episode illustrates how dangerous laboratory work could be before modern safety equipment, controlled procedures, and a developed knowledge of chemical incompatibilities.

This incident also connects directly to Faraday’s career. After Davy’s injury, Faraday became his assistant at the Royal Institution, replacing William Payne after Payne had been dismissed. The compound is sometimes confused with fulminates, such as mercury fulminate or silver fulminate, but those are different explosive substances.