Explosives can be low or high, with low explosives burning slowly and high explosives exploding rapidly. High explosives are chemically unstable compounds that release energy when exposed to heat or shock. Explosives must possess certain qualities, including rapid gas expansion and initiation of reaction.
There are two types of explosives: low explosives like gunpowder and high explosives like TNT. Low explosives are generally a mixture of a combustible substance and an oxidizer which burns (deflagrates) at speeds between a few cm/sec and 400 m/sec, but usually at the lower end of that scale. High explosives are chemical compounds (one type of molecule) rather than a duo: these explode rather than deflagrate, producing a supersonic shock wave of 1,000 – 9,000 m/sec.
Low explosives work in the same way as burning wood or coal: by combining a combustible substance with an oxidizer at a sufficient temperature, heat and rapidly expanding gases are created. Depending on the oxygen level in the surrounding medium, the deflagration occurs with more or less speed and violence. At higher levels, deflagrations resemble detonations.
High explosives are chemically unstable compounds, often including several nitrate groups. When exposed to sufficient heat or mechanical shock, high explosives abruptly rearrange their molecular structure, deteriorating into reaction products and releasing a lot of energy in the process.
There are nine primary reaction sequences that constitute parts of the detonation process of high explosives, designated as priorities. For example, priority 1 involves combining a metal with chlorine, releasing excess energy in the process. Other priorities include combining hydrogen with chlorine, a metal with oxygen, carbon with oxygen, hydrogen with oxygen, carbon monoxide with oxygen, nitrogen with itself, oxygen with itself, and hydrogen with itself. In a given explosive, several of these reactions can occur, each releasing large amounts of energy.
Since some explosives require extreme heat to detonate, explosive chains must be created, in which a low-energy explosive is detonated by a blaster, which then provides the basis for the explosion of an additional substance.
Four standard qualities that a compound or mixture must possess to qualify as an explosive include rapid gas expansion, generation of heat (exothermic reaction), rapidity of reaction, and initiation of reaction, which means that the explosive can be turned on in a controlled fashion. Another desirable quality of practical explosives is a limited amount of toxicity.
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