Acknowledgements

The following people have made the writing of this project a great deal easier for me by either commenting on what has been written or with suggestions on work for the project.

At Liverpool John Moores University

Dr Alex Wood should have probably the largest thanks. He has not only been the supervisor at John Moores University, but also my Physical Chemistry tutor since my HNC days almost five years ago. In this time, he has nurtured my interest in Physical Chemistry and become a very good friend.

Dr. Robert Edwards, should be credited for his lectures on the instability of nitrogen halides which, in part, lead me to conceive this project.

Mr Geoff Henshaw, the Physical Chemistry technician at John Moores, helped a great deal by performing the calibration on the bomb. He also made sure the apparatus worked and made sure everything was working while I was in the lab.

Mr Laurie Hughes, Physics technician. Laurie stepped in (after very little notice) and provided me with a very high quality signal generator and amplified speaker. He has also spent a large amount of time in explaining the physics of sound and acoustic energy to me.

At the University of Salford

Dr Dennis Price. Dennis was my supervisor at Salford for this project. Like Alex at John Moores, Dennis was very supportive after the initial stabilisation of the triiodide, by suggesting further work.

Dr. G. John Milnes. As with Dennis, John also knows this project well. John also suggested further investigations and also could answer most of my problems quickly and clearly.

Mr. Michael Scanlon. Mike is the Chief Technician for the Chemistry Dept. at Salford and was very understanding with my requests for time off to perform my work, look up literature and provide assistance to cover classes when I have not been present.

Dr. Tom McC. Patterson. Tom is the Safety Superintendent in the Chemistry department as well as the department's resident explosives "expert". His advice on safety matters proved to be invaluable during this project.

Dr. Judah Arotsky. Judah, with his unlimited energy, was an inspiration during the project. He is a mine of knowledge when it comes to the workings of the bomb calorimeter and it was his HND1 practical for the heats of formation (data analysis) which partially inspired the glass bomb. It was his software written in Visual Basic that was used for the analysis.

Mr. Kenneth Bullock. Ken is the resident glass blower for the department and it was he who made the original glass bomb (and subsequent variations).

Mr. J. Robin Thompson. Robin is the technician in charge of the XRD labs at Salford. He helped me with the original XRDs of the stabilised NI3 and subsequent analysis of results.

Mr. R. Darlington. Roger, like Laurie Hughes at John Moores, provided me with a great deal of information concerning the relationship between sound and energy. He also arranged for my use of the Acoustic department's reverberation laboratory and aided greatly with the theory of sound to power.

At Knowsley Community College

Mr. M. Critchley. Martin stepped in at the final moment to give me a hand with some of the Physics part of the project. I know very little Physics, so Martin had to patiently and gently guide me through the subject matter.

OTHERS NOT MENTIONED ABOVE

Kate Crennell. Kate runs an organisation known as "Fortran Friends" and helped no end while I ported MOPAC 6 and SHELLX on to the Acorn platform with technical advice and methods of bug fixing.

Beverley Johnson. The largest act of gratitude must go to my wife Beverley. She has put up with my constant ramblings on the subject with the patience of a saint.