Nitrogen triiodide is so unstable that it even detonates when a feather drops on it. But why is it so unstable? Well this is due to the fact that three iodine atoms cluster around one side of a nitrogen atom. The result of such a crowd around one atom causes something called bond strain – the atoms repel each other in a small space. The result of this bond strain is that the molecule is prone to falling apart very, let’s say, ‘explosively’. (Source)
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