A video released by the Royal Institution of Science of a highly sensitive contact explosive called nitrogen triiodide has gone viral gaining more than half a million views since it was first uploaded onto social media on August 27.

The video shows Andy Marmery, the Royal Institution's Science demonstration technician making the chemical react by touching a small sample with a stick and balloon.

The light touch makes the sample explode in a cloud of dark red smoke.

The video also shows the chemical glowing with bright colours as it initially ignites.

The Royal Institution told Reuters that nitrogen triiodide is so unstable that even something like a mosquito landing on it can set it off.

Three iodine atoms cluster around one side of a nitrogen atom.

Being crowded around one end causes something called bond strain as the atoms repel each other in a small space.

The result is that the molecule is prone to falling apart, explosively.

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