NOTICE: After reading an "off-topic" complaint from one of the antenna
guys, I started replying with rec.radio.amateur.antenna deleted
from the Send To list.

This doesn't work if you bookmark this thread: Google
recovers the bookmark by FIRST group in a list; thus,
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Worse, even if you search and read under one of the other
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Sorry, antenna guy, I tried, but
I want to be sure this one gets seen.

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.

You are exaggerating.

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. 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.

OK. Maybe here you are not exaggerating.

Detonation creates a SHOCK, not a "wave"; a wave is
a cyclic vibration at or below the speed of sound
(disregarding electromagnetic waves).
A detonation is an aerodynamic (or, if you prefer,
hydrodynamic) process, not a "wave", and it
exceeds the speed of sound. Typical shock speeds for a
solid high explosive are over 9 km/s, whereas the speed
of sound in the fastest solid (e. g., carbonate rock)
is below 7 km/s. In a typical solid high explosive, sound
speed would be under 3 km/s. In nitroglycerine, it would
be under 2 km/s.

Your criticism doesn't make sense to me: If there is a
SHOCK (I assume you are referring to bonding electrons?)
it will transfer momentum to atoms in its path, and each
in just one direction, depending on the location of the
first energy-yielding bond. Each atom will be accelerated
in one direction (ignoring subsequent collisions).

I agree the shock will progress
faster than the atoms, but the atoms will be accelerated.

What are these atoms? They are the atoms, or if you prefer,
small molecules, NOT combusted as well as others not detonated,
and some previously detonated. They will move in all directions
away from their original locations. The heat liberated by the
detonation reaction, if nothing else, will have accelerated
them to high speeds.

If you think about it, that's what I wrote above.


There is a GIANT difference between combustion and detonation. TNT
does NOT combust when it decomposes in a detonation.

Bruce in alaska


I didn't say anything inconsistent with that, did I?

John

John Michael Williams