AN EXOTIC type of nitrogen could form the next generation of safe, energy-dense rocket fuels or explosives, provided someone can figure out how to make it.
In its most common state, nitrogen is an inert gas whose molecules contain two atoms held together by a triple covalent bond. But nitrogen is also a component in many explosives, such as TNT.
Twenty years ago physicists predicted that nitrogen could form another molecule consisting of four atoms connected to one another with single covalent bonds. This “polymeric” nitrogen would release a tremendous amount of energy as it transformed to its inert form.…
