Explosive
An explosive is a substance or mixture that rapidly releases energy and gas through a chemical reaction, producing heat, pressure, or a blast.
Deflagration: A combustion wave that travels through material slower than the speed of sound in that material. Explosives can react by deflagration, producing pressure more slowly than a detonation.
Chemical energy: Energy stored in the arrangement of atoms and chemical bonds, released or absorbed during reactions. Explosives convert stored chemical energy into heat, motion, and reaction products.
Blasting: The controlled use of explosives to break rock or other materials. Blasting directs explosive energy toward excavation, demolition, or rock fragmentation.
Propellant: A material that generates gas to produce thrust, typically through controlled combustion. Propellants are designed for sustained thrust rather than an explosive blast.
TNT equivalent: A convention for expressing an energy release as the mass of TNT that would release the same energy. It provides a common scale for comparing blast yields across different explosives.
Detonation: A supersonic reaction wave driven by a shock front through reactive material. Detonation is the shock-coupled reaction mode responsible for explosives’ strongest blasts.
Exothermic reaction: A chemical reaction that transfers energy to its surroundings, usually as heat. Rapid heat release can accelerate an explosive reaction and expand its gases.
Explosive forming: A metal-shaping process that uses an explosive-generated pressure pulse to form a workpiece. It applies a blast pressure pulse to shape metal without a conventional press.
Pyrotechnic composition: A mixture that produces heat, light, sound, smoke, or other effects through a self-sustaining reaction. Pyrotechnics can release energy rapidly but are chiefly designed for effects other than blast.
Explosive ordnance disposal: The detection, identification, evaluation, and disposal of explosive hazards by trained specialists. It addresses the dangers left by unexploded or unstable explosive devices.