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Explosives and Explosions Revised
Explosives and Explosions Revised
What is an Explosion?
Rapid burning of a material resulting in a sudden build-up and release of heat and gas pressure.
Hexanes: Among the many hydrocarbons found in gasoline, they are representative of the volatility and explosivity of gasoline.
2 C6H14
19 O2
12 CO2
14 H2O
Hexanes will not explode in a closed container and neither will gasoline. Too much fuel Not enough oxygen The gas tank on your car is not an explosion hazard. Vapor phase concentration of hydrocarbons is above upper explosive limit (UEL) of 8%.
CH3CH2OH
3 O2
2 CO2
14 H2O
Diesel and Jet fuel tanks have a higher risk of explosion than automobile fuel tanks. TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid air in 1996, probably due to a vapor phase fuel tank explosion.
Surprisingly, explosivity of jet airplane fuel tanks is not well studied or understood.
The July 17, 1996, crash of TWA flight 800, a Boeing 747 airplane, was blamed on a fuel-air explosion within the center wing tank, with the ignition source still unidentified. As a consequence of the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is evaluating improved safety requirements for the fuel tanks on commercial aircraft. One technique, recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), is to maintain sufficient fuel in the center wing tanks of transport aircraft to limit the liquid fuel temperature rise and evaporation, thus keeping the vapor fuel/air ratio below the explosive limit. Initial attempts to determine the benefit of additional fuel in the center tank were frustrated by the lack of an acceptable method for determining the explosive hazard in the tank under varying conditions. - FAA final report, TWA Flight 800 crash investigation.
How can we make explosives without the limitation of needing oxygen from the air?
Make the oxygen (oxidizing agent) part of the chemical structure. Example: Nitrocellulose used in gun powder.
Cellulose
major component of cotton
OH H
N itrocellulose
"gun cotton"
m ajor com ponent of m odern gun pow der and firew orks
Glycerine
Nitroglycerine
CH 2 OH
CH 2ONO 2
HNO 3
HOH 2C C CH 2 OH O 2NOH 2C C CH2 ONO 2
H 2SO 4
CH 2 OH CH 2ONO 2
Pentaerythritol
Pentaerythritoltetranitrate (PETN)
Nitroglycerine
Nitroglycerine detonates by rapidly rearranging to a collection of small stable gas molecules releasing a huge quantity of heat and pressure.
CH2ONO2
12 CO2 + Detonation 6 N2 +
10 H2O O2
CHONO2 CH2ONO2
Pure Nitroglycerine is way too sensitive to be a useful explosive. It was the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel that converted nitroglycerine into a useful commercial and military explosive by mixing nitroglycerine with clay (diatomaceous earth) and forming the mixture into dynamite sticks.
Nitrogen triiodide
2 NI3
N2
3 I2
Compounds which are not easily (accidentally) detonated but which can be detonated intentionally to cause very high energy explosions. Secondary explosives require a small amount of a primary explosive to set them off.
NO 2
NO 2
T T
Picric Acid
NO 2 O 2N N N NO 2 N O2N N N NO 2 N O 2N N NO 2
RDX
HMX
%OB
-74 -43 +7.0 +20
Amatols =
mixtures of ammonium nitrate and TNT mixtures of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil
ANFO
ANFO A crude low tech high explosive that has been used by terrorists with devastating results.
Sterling Hall Bombing Here at UW: . In the early morning hours of August 24, 1970, the New Years Gang loaded about 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate soaked in aviation fuel into a stolen Ford. The group parked the van below the Army Mathematics Research Center, in a driveway of Sterling Hall. At 3:42 A.M. the bomb exploded. It was powerful enough to knock out windows six blocks away, and police found pieces of the Ford van on top of an eight-story building nearby. - www.sit.wisc.edu/~psohandbook
Organic Peroxides A very different and less predictable class of potentially explosive compounds.
O O H 3C O H H O O O H
P erxy acetic
O
cid
P eroxyform ic
cid
O O O O O
O O O H
Acetone Peroxide
Formed from acid catalyzed reaction of acetone with hydrogen peroxide. Formed as a mixture of dimer and trimer structures.
H3C CH3 H3C CH3
O O O O O O H3 C O H3C CH3 H3 C O
O O CH3 CH3
Dimer
Trimer
Acetone Peroxide
Extremely dangerous and unpredictable in its detonation behavior. Has been used by terrorists. - easily prepared from common chemicals which are not regulated. - not detected by bomb-sniffing dogs.