Sensitivity of explosives is a subject of keen interest to all those involved in the handling of these materials Current ability to predict sensitivity is based on a series of empirical rules for different classes of explosive compounds and simple oxygen balance and the ratios of C and H to oxygen are typical empirical parameters Whilst these may be valid for organic classes. many inorganic materials do not conform to any of these patterns Inorganic oxides do not have any C. H or O atoms so Oxygen balance is irrelevant Inorganic azides display a range of sensitivity from lithium oxide, which is non-energetic and insensitive. to copper(I) oxide which is highly sensitive. A number of other parameters such as enthalpy of formation again do not provide a simple correlation with sensitivity This study examines the published structures of a number of inorganic azides using a molecular modelling programme to determine some of the Interatomic distances in the ideal unit cell Structure with a particular emphasis on the distance between non-bonded nitrogen atoms on neighbouring azide ions Comparison of the calculated results for the ion positions with the literature values suggest the modelling process is valid When the structures of the inorganic azides were examined further and the non-bonded nitrogen to nitrogen distances compared with their impact sensitivity there was a very good correlation between impact sensitivity and the minimum non-bonded nitrogen to nitrogen distance across a wide variety of azides. This correlation appears to be consistent with theory requiring minimum atomic movements to produce the reaction products The possible mechanisms for this process are the subject of current ongoing investigations to be discussed in subsequent publications