In article ,
DarkMatter TheBartenderBuyMeADrink wrote:

First, tell me how one "burns TNT". It is a high explosive. I
think its "burn rate" would be pretty fast, and not manageable.

High explosives certainly can burn - burning and detonation are
physically different processes.

I remember reading stories of demolition-team soldiers in Vietnam,
heating their rations by taking a small pellet of C-4 plastic
explosive (RDX) and igniting it. It makes a hot flame, quite
sufficient to toast up the C-rations, and does not explode. [Not a
terribly good substitute for a real camp stove, though, as C-4
produces toxic fumes when burned.]

Burning is, in fact, the standard way for the military to dispose of
C-4 from unwanted munitions.

It appears that burning is also a viable method of destroying TNT.
http://www.humanitarian-demining.org...tral/remic.asp
describes a method for destroying land mines "in situ" via burning.
It's a neat trick - a small shaped charge of explosive creates a
high-velocity gas jet which breaks open the (TNT-loaded) land mine,
and also delivers a charge of a pyrogenic chemical which ignites and
burns the TNT without detonating it.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 16:08:06 -0000, (Dave Platt)
wrote:


It appears that burning is also a viable method of destroying TNT.
http://www.humanitarian-demining.org...tral/remic.asp
describes a method for destroying land mines "in situ" via burning.
It's a neat trick - a small shaped charge of explosive creates a
high-velocity gas jet which breaks open the (TNT-loaded) land mine,
and also delivers a charge of a pyrogenic chemical which ignites and
burns the TNT without detonating it.
Yep I have seen a documentary on TV where the cut open old WW2 bombs
(UK ones), and then simply burned the stuff in it.
That is how they get rid of the old bombs.
JP