The name is derived from the Latin fulminātus, meaning to explode like lightning, and reflects that fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives due to the instability of the ion.

Fulminates can be formed from metals, such as silver and mercury, dissolved in nitric acid, and reacted with ethanol.

[1][2][3] The use of fulminates for firearms was first demonstrated by a Scottish minister, Alexander John Forsyth, who patented his scent-bottle lock in 1807; this was a small container filled with fulminate of mercury.

[4][5] Joshua Shaw determined how to encapsulate them in metal to form a percussion cap, but did not patent his invention until 1822.

They have different properties but the same chemical composition, which led to a bitter dispute finally resolved by Jöns Jakob Berzelius through the concept of isomers.