What is Ammonium Chlorate?

Ammonium chlorate is not a stable salt that is largely used for manufacturing explosives. The pure form of salt is highly unstable and it can explode anytime. The chemical formula for this salt is NH4ClO3 with a molecular weight of approximately 101. 4897 g mol-1. The salt is formed by the ammonium cation and chlorate anions.

Ammonium Chlorate Structure

It has a crystal structure with rhomboid geometry and it looks very much similar to the potassium bromide. The structure for this salt could be given as below –

This unstable salt cannot be found in nature and prepared in laboratory by neutralizing ammonia and chloric acid.

Ammonium Chlorate Formula NH4ClO3

HClO3 + NH3 → NH4ClO3

When we are looking at the chemical properties of the salt then this is just a colorless crystal salt with a density of 2.42 g mL-1 and melting point is calculated as 380 ºC. When heated at high temperature then it could be decomposed to nitrogen, chlorine, and oxygen. Further, it is highly soluble in water and diluted alcoholic solutions too but it is not soluble in pure alcohols.

About Ammonium Chlorate

Further when we look at the chemical properties of salt then we can observe that it is a strong oxidizer and can be utilized in chemical industries because of its instability. Further, when this salt is exposed in light then it will explode and becomes highly dangerous. This salt has very limited application like manufacturing explosions or chemical weapons etc. Also, it could be dangerous for health as well when exposed to light or heat.