Bruce in Alaska wrote in message ...
In article ,
(John Michael Williams) wrote:
but what would happen is that the uncombusted atoms
of the TNT would be just accelerated away by the shock
of detonation.
Eventually, they might be combusted, but not as part of
the detonation. So, their combustion energy contribution
isn't counted as part of the explosion.
The above is just plain NONSENSE.
Not true.
When TNT Detonates, it is the
detonation wave front that causes the cyclic ring of tolulene to
break and release the bonding energy of the molecule.
It isn't the "detonation wave front" that disrupts the
tri-nitrotoluene molecule, but the local heating. The detonation wave
front is just another consequence of the local heating.
The detonation
wave front is traveling faster than the the molecules can move on their
own, so they don't move, they just get slammed by the detonation wave.
They actually get heated by the heat radiated from the ignition point
(which travels at the speed of light), as well as by the impact of the
molecules heated up at the initial ignition point.
The detonation wave front is a "supersonic shock wave" which is to say
it is moving exactly as fast as molecules can move on their own,
because it consists of the energetic molecules produced by the
rearrangement of tri-nitrotoluene into water, carbon monoxide, carbon
and nitrogen.
There is a GIANT difference between combustion and detonation. TNT
does NOT combust when it decomposes in a detonation.
There certainly is a giant difference between combustion and
detonation. The carbon monoxide and the carbon particles produced by a
detonation may well react with atmospheric oxygen after the
detonation, but this is a much slower process and doesn't add much to
the damage produced by the initial blast.
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Bill Sloman, Nijmegen