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Questions tagged [explosives]

Questions discussing explosive nature of chemicals. Also, consider using the safety tag.

5 votes
0 answers
163 views

Is this ancient explosive mixture mentioned in the Apocrypha plausible?

I understand that religious discussion is not wanted here, but it's just the pretext to my question. I recently decided to read the Apocrypha. Sounded interesting. Anyway, when I got to The Book of ...
Servant's user avatar
  • 167
1 vote
0 answers
50 views

What determines the consistency of hydrogen foam when reacting aluminium with sodium hydroxide solution?

I was using $\ce{NaOH}$ solution to remove hardened grease from my stove burners, and it began to generate a lot of bubbles, some of which merged into a big bubble and erupted into the surface, but ...
user2934303's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
310 views

Why does Red Phosphorus react so violently with an oxidizer like Potassium Chlorate?

In Armstrong's Mixture, mixing those two chemicals results in a friction sensitive explosive which produces a loud bang. According to wikipedia, it is made by adding a strong oxidizer to red ...
jamieoliverswag's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
213 views

Do high-energy chemical bonds indicate strong chemical bonds?

In my head it seems reasonable that a high-energy bond would indicate that the bond is strong, however a question got me thinking. Take for example lead azide, a very explosive compound that is often ...
Jack's user avatar
  • 35
0 votes
0 answers
514 views

Could you use All-Purpose Flour as a model rocket fuel?

I'm building a model rocket, and I'm trying to find a good fuel. I've done a lot of research and I know about r-candy and the aluminum-ammonium fuel, but I was wondering, before I made any of these, ...
Blue Herring's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can you make R-Candy without heating the propellant mix?

I'm wondering if there's any way you can make "Rocket Candy" (or R-candy) fuel without cooking it. I'm building a model rocket that I'm hoping will get about 3 km on my first build (It's not ...
Blue Herring's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
426 views

Are tetra- and pentanitrotoluene better explosives than TNT?

When reading about TNT (trinitrotoluene), I noticed that the aromatic ring has still 2 carbon atoms left for two more possible nitro groups ($\ce{−NO2}$), which would get you tetra- or ...
Icebörg's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
44 views

Realistic conditions for fuel container explosion [closed]

First off, I'm not actually trying to blow anything up. Also, my apologies if this isn't the right SE to ask. If so, I'd appreciate it if you could point me to the right SE. I'm writing something ...
Nicola's user avatar
  • 187
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

How explosive is benzene compared to TNT?

Benzene is explosive within the explosive limits of minimum $\pu{1.2 \%}$ and maximum of $\pu{7.8 \%}$ in air. Source: Wikipedia More accurate, benzene itself is not explosive, but the fuel-air mixer ...
Bernard's user avatar
  • 159
4 votes
1 answer
258 views

Does mercury(II) cyanate exist?

Recently I have answered a question "Comparing explosive properties of mercury(II) cyanate and mercury(II) fulminate" where stability of cyanate vs fulminate was discussed. While I was ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 26.3k
40 votes
6 answers
12k views

How does ammonium nitrate explode on its own?

I thought ammonium nitrate was an oxidizer that needed to be mixed with fuel to form a high explosive (e.g., ANFO). But apparently there have been accidental explosions involving just the "...
Rob N's user avatar
  • 1,633
4 votes
2 answers
3k views

Comparing explosive properties of mercury(II) cyanate and mercury(II) fulminate

I found this question online on Jiskha Homework Help: Of the compounds mercury(II) cyanate, $\ce{Hg(OCN)2},$ and mercury(II) fulminate, $\ce{Hg(CNO)2},$ one is highly explosive, the other is not. ...
Manit Agarwal's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
113 views

316 stainless steel and high concentration, high temperature Hydrogen Peroxide

I'm looking at doing some experiments with small scale rocketry and I need to find the right materials for this project, where I will be burning through lots of HTC (peroxide above 90% concentration). ...
Jason .H's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
852 views

Are petroleum-based products prone to produce hard residues with black powder?

A common controversy about black powder is lubricant composition. Some people tell this is a bad idea to use any petroleum based products in such lube because it will produce hard, difficult to clean ...
KO the typo's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
109 views

What is "salpotricon"? [closed]

I read in my old Polish history handbook about the black powder recipe that was taken from some medieval manuscript, if I remember correctly. One of the ingredients was called “salpotricon”, but years ...
Marthaa's user avatar
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