Zinc azide
Zinc azide is an inorganic compound composed of zinc cations () and azide anions (). It is a white, explosive solid that can be prepared by the protonolysis of diethylzinc with hydrazoic acid: Properties. Zinc azide is a coordination polymer which crystallizes in three polymorphs, all of which feature tetrahedral zinc centers and bridging azide ligands. α- crystallizes in the monoclinic space group and is stable, while the other two polymorphs are metastable. "P"2/"n". β- is trigonal, space group "P"321, and γ- is monoclinic, space group "C"2. It is easily hydrolyzed, and attempts to prepare it in aqueous solution resulted  in the precipitation of basic azides ("x" = 0.9–1.0). Both the α- and β-forms were found to be very friction- and shock-sensitive, violently exploding in blue flashes, but can be made to decompose slowly by gentle heating, giving off nitrogen gas. In a sealed glass tube with inert atmosphere, this yields zinc nitride, .