In its properties hydrazoic acid shows some analogy to the halogen acids, since it forms poorly soluble (in water) lead, silver and mercury(I) salts. The metallic salts all crystallize in the anhydrous form and decompose on heating, leaving a residue of the pure metal. It is a weak acid (pK = 4.75.) Its heavy metal salts are explosive and readily interact with the alkyl iodides. Azides of heavier alkali metals (excluding lithium) or alkaline earth metals are not explosive, but decompose in a more controlled way upon heating, releasing spectroscopically-pure  gas. Solutions of hydrazoic acid dissolve many metals (e.g. zinc, iron) with liberation of hydrogen and formation of salts, which are called azides (formerly also called azoimides or hydrazoates).
Hydrazoic acid may react with carbonyl derivatives, including aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids, to give an amine or amide, with expulsion of nitrogen. This is called Schmidt reaction or Schmidt rearrangement.
Dissolution in the strongest acids produces explosive salts containing the aminodiazonium ion , for example:
The ion  is isoelectronic to diazomethane .
The decomposition of hydrazoic acid, triggered by shock, friction, spark, etc. produces nitrogen and hydrogen:
Hydrazoic acid undergoes unimolecular decomposition at sufficient energy:
The lowest energy pathway produces NH in the triplet state, making it a spin-forbidden reaction. This is one of the few reactions whose rate has been determined for specific amounts of vibrational energy in the ground electronic state, by laser photodissociation studies. In addition, these unimolecular rates have been analyzed theoretically, and the experimental and calculated rates are in reasonable agreement.