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#11
March 25th 04, 11:43 AM
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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. ------ Bill Sloman, Nijmegen |
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