Questions tagged [explosives]
Questions discussing explosive nature of chemicals. Also, consider using the safety tag.
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How to get the strongest reaction out of 1kg of guncotton in a space of 15*15*15 meters without using an additional gas source
It would be burnt outside at about 2 degrees Celsius with about 75 percent air humidity, 1400 meters above sea level. Even though that's not exactly true, I'll treat it like pure guncotton. I'm asking ...
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Does the explosion of TNT include oxidation?
This comment below the question Rocket explosion compared to kT of TNT; has one ever knocked something over at a distance? suggests that
...TNT includes it's own oxidizer...
Explosion isn't the ...
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What causes oxygen cylinders to explode when in contact with oil (oiled cloth)?
Perhaps I did not put it correctly, but from the welders I know that if you leave the oiled rag on the cylinder valve, it can explode. At least, I saw how greasy oily rags that just lay in the trash ...
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Can we tell if a compound is explosive by just looking at its chemical structure?
If I showed you a compound's chemical structure will you be able to tell if it can be used as an explosive or we can only know that by conducting chemical experiments?
user80388
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Is it possible to create weaker version of guncotton by replacing cotton wool with wood chips or linen cloth?
If the cotton wool was replaced by wood chips or linen (flax) cloth, would the mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids still react with the cellulose in it to produce nitrocellulose?
If it would, would ...
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Why is nitroglycerin so unstable?
I know that nitroglycerin is an incredibly powerful explosive due to its three nitro groups, but why is it so unstable?
What in its chemical structure makes it so sensitive to shock and temperature? ...
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What am I doing wrong with the fuel and packing I am using for a cannon I made?
Recently I have been using flash powder in a cannon that I made, for a chemistry project, however, it is not causing the rubber ball I put in it to propel out of the tube. First I put in 30g of flash ...
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Why do most explosives have symmetrical chemical structures?
I was just turning the pages of my chemistry dictionary, when I found the structure of TNT (Trinitrotoluene):
...there after I got interested in its symmetry as an explosive, and started looking for ...
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Would an explosion of an electrically charged material be more powerful than if it were not charged?
I was recently reading a book titled "Hitler's Suppressed and Still Secret Weapons, Science and Technology". I came across this book because I saw it referenced by someone on another site. The book's ...
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What chemical explosives detonate when exposed to alpha particles or nuclear fission products?
Wikipedia's article on nitrogen triiodide $\ce{NI3}$ claims that
Nitrogen triiodide is also notable for being the only known chemical explosive that detonates when exposed to alpha particles and ...
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Was nitroglycerin invented as an explosive?
Although I have researched this as carefully as the web allows, it is not clear to me if the inventor was planning to make an explosive and if so, why he thought the process he undertook would yield ...
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Why is gunpowder urinated on in Blood Meridian?
An interesting section of Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy has the gang of "Indian fighters" surrounded and out of powder, so one of them manages to make it from scratch, making charcoal from ...
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Odorless smoke from 1812 Overture cannon fire
I went to an outdoor performance of the 1812 Overture last night. At the finale, a sequence of 'cannon fire' occurred.
In past years the smoke has had the expected sulfur odor but this year the dense ...
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Why was rhenium used as an igniter in flash bulbs?
It looks like it typically had a current passed though it to ignite zirconium threads.
What properties of rhenium made it the best metal to use for this?
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Are all highly shock sensitive chemicals highly temperature sensitive too?
I found that some highly shock sensitive explosives like lead azide, mercury fulminate have a relatively high auto-ignition temperature. I want to know if it's a general property or not and why so? ...
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