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
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