Explosive substances have long become a part of human life. This article will tell you what they are, where they are applied and what are the rules for storing them.

A bit of history

From time immemorial, man has tried to create substances that, under a certain influence from the outside, caused an explosion. Naturally, this was not done for peaceful purposes. And one of the first widely known explosive substances was the legendary Greek fire, the recipe for which is still unknown. This was followed by the creation of gunpowder in China around the 7th century, which, on the contrary, was first used for entertainment purposes in pyrotechnics, and only then was adapted for military needs.

For several centuries, the opinion has been established that gunpowder is the only explosive known to man. Only at the end of the 18th century was the fulminate of silver discovered, which is well-known under the unusual name "explosive silver". Well, after this discovery picric acid, "explosive mercury", pyroxylin, nitroglycerin, TNT, hexogen and so on appeared.

Concept and classification

In simple terms, explosive substances are special substances or mixtures of them that, under certain conditions, can explode. These conditions can include an increase in temperature or pressure, a shock, a shock, sounds of specific frequencies, as well as intense lighting or even light touch.

For example, acetylene is considered one of the most famous and widespread explosive substances. It is a colorless gas that is odorless in its pure form and is lighter than air. Acetylene used in production has a pungent smell, which is imparted to it by impurities. It has become widespread in gas welding and metal cutting. Acetylene can explode at temperatures of 500 degrees Celsius or on prolonged contact with copper and silver on impact.

At the moment, a lot of explosive substances are known. They are classified according to many criteria: composition, physical state, explosive properties, directions of application, degree of danger.

In the direction of application, explosives can be:

• industrial (used in many industries, from mining to material processing);
• experimental and experimental;
• the military;
• special purpose;
• antisocial use (often this includes homemade mixtures and substances that are used for terrorist and hooligan purposes).

The degree of danger

Also, as an example, we can consider explosive substances according to their degree of danger. In the first place are hydrocarbon-based gases. These substances are prone to arbitrary detonation. These include chlorine, ammonia, freons, and so on. According to statistics, almost a third of accidents in which explosives are the main actors are associated with hydrocarbon-based gases.

This is followed by hydrogen, which, under certain conditions (for example, a compound with air in a ratio of 2: 5), acquires the greatest explosion hazard. Well, the top three of the leaders in terms of the degree of danger are closed by a pair of liquids that are prone to ignition. First of all, these are vapors of fuel oil, diesel fuel and gasoline.

Explosives in military affairs

Explosives are widely used in military affairs. There are two types of explosion: combustion and detonation. Due to the fact that the gunpowder burns, when it explodes in a confined space, it does not destroy the liner, but the formation of gases and the bullet or projectile escaping from the barrel. TNT, RDX or ammonal detonate and create a blast wave, the pressure rises sharply. But in order for the detonation process to occur, an external influence is necessary, which can be:

• mechanical (shock or friction);
• thermal (flame);
• chemical (reaction of an explosive with some other substance);
• detonation (there is an explosion of one explosive next to another).

Based on the last point, it becomes clear that two large classes of explosives can be distinguished: composite and individual. The former are mainly composed of two or more substances that are not chemically related. It happens that, individually, such components are not capable of detonation and can exhibit a similar property only when in contact with each other.

Also, in addition to the main components, the composition of the composite explosive may contain various impurities. Their purpose is also very broad: regulation of sensitivity or high-explosiveness, weakening of explosive characteristics or their enhancement. Since in recent years, global terrorism is more and more spread by means of impurities, it has become possible to locate where the explosive was made and find it with the help of service dogs.

With individuals, everything is clear: sometimes they do not even need oxygen for a positive thermal yield.

High explosiveness and explosiveness

Usually, in order to understand the power and strength of an explosive, it is necessary to have an idea of ​​characteristics such as high explosiveness and explosiveness. The first means the ability to destroy surrounding objects. The higher the blasting rate (which, by the way, is measured in millimeters), the better the substance is suitable as a filling for an aerial bomb or projectile. High blasting explosives will create a strong shockwave and give high velocity to the flying debris.

High explosiveness, on the other hand, refers to the ability to eject surrounding materials. It is measured in cubic centimeters. Explosives with high explosiveness are often used when working with soil.

Safety when working with explosive substances

The list of injuries that a person can receive due to accidents associated with explosives is very, very extensive: thermal and chemical burns, contusion, nervous shock from impact, injuries from fragments of glass or metal dishes containing explosive substances, damage eardrum. Therefore, safety precautions when working with explosive substances have their own characteristics. For example, when working with them, it is necessary to have a protective screen made of thick organic glass or other durable material. Also, those who directly work with explosive substances must wear a protective mask or even a helmet, gloves and an apron made of durable material.

The storage of explosive substances also has its own characteristics. For example, their illegal storage has consequences in the form of liability, according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Dust contamination of the stored explosives must be prevented. Containers with them must be tightly closed so that vapors do not enter the environment. An example is toxic explosives, the vapors of which can cause both headaches and dizziness and paralysis. Flammable explosive substances are stored in isolated warehouses that have fireproof walls. Areas where explosive chemicals are found must be equipped with fire-fighting equipment.

Epilogue

So, explosives can be both a faithful helper to humans and an enemy if handled and stored improperly. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the safety rules as closely as possible, and also not to try to pretend to be a young pyrotechnic and tinker with any artisanal explosive substances.

“This is power, you know? The power in matter. Matter has tremendous power. I ... I feel to the touch that everything is so teeming in her ... And all this is being held back ... by an incredible effort. It is worth shaking from the inside - and bam! - decay. Everything is an explosion.

Karel Chapek, "Krakatit"

In this epigraph, the half-crazy genius-chemist engineer Prokop gave a very precise, albeit peculiar, definition of explosives. We will talk about these substances, which largely determined the development of human civilization, in this article. Of course, we will not only talk about the military use of explosives - the scope of its application is so wide that it does not fit into some kind of stereotyped "inside and out". You and I have to figure out what an explosion is, get to know the types of explosives, remember the history of their appearance, development and improvement. Curious or simply interesting information about everything connected with the explosions will not be left out.

For the first time in my author's practice, I am forced to issue a warning - there will be no recipes for the manufacture of explosives, descriptions of technology and layout diagrams of explosive devices in the article. Hope for understanding.

What is an explosion?

- And here is the explosion in Grottup, - said the old man: in the picture - clouds of pink smoke, thrown out by a sulfur-yellow flame high up, to the very edge; torn human bodies hang eerily in smoke and flames. - More than five thousand people died in this explosion. It was a great misfortune, - the old man sighed. - This is my last picture.

Karel Chapek, "Krakatit"

The answer to this seemingly very simple question is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. The most general and precise definition of an explosion does not exist until today. Academic reference books and encyclopedias give a very vague definition of the type of "uncontrollable fast physical and chemical process with the release of significant energy in a small volume." The weakness of this definition is that no quantitative criteria are specified.

International sign “Caution! Explosive". Laconic and very clear.

The volume, the amount of released energy and the flow time - all these values ​​can, of course, be reduced to the concept of "minimum specific power", which will determine the limit above which the process can be considered explosive. But it just so happened that no one really needs such an accuracy of definitions - the military, geologists, pyrotechnics, nuclear physicists, astrophysicists, technologists have their own criteria for an explosion. The artilleryman simply won’t have the question of whether the result of a high-explosive fragmentation projectile is considered an explosion, and the astrophysicist, when asked about a supernova, will generally shrug his shoulders in bewilderment.

Explosions differ in the physical nature of the energy source and the way it is released. To highlight the chemical explosions of interest to us, let's try to figure out what kind of explosions there are.

Thermodynamic explosion- a fairly large category of fast processes with the release of thermal or kinetic energy. For example, if you increase the gas pressure in a sealed vessel, sooner or later the vessel will collapse and an explosion will occur. And if a sealed vessel with a superheated liquid under pressure is quickly opened, then the explosion will occur due to the release of pressure, instant boiling of the liquid and the formation of shock waves.

Kinetic explosion- transformation of the kinetic energy of a moving material body into thermal energy with a sharp deceleration. The fall of a bolide to Earth is a typical example of a kinetic explosion. The impact of a blank of an armor-piercing projectile into the tank's armor could also be considered a kinetic explosion, but here everything is somewhat more complicated - the explosive nature of the interaction is provided not only by the purely thermal effect of the impact. Free electrons in the metal of the projectile, moving at the same speed, with sharp deceleration, continue to move by inertia, forming huge currents in the conductor.

The destruction of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a typical thermodynamic explosion.

Electric explosion- the release of thermal energy during the passage of the so-called "shock" currents in the conductor. Here, the explosive nature of the process is determined by the resistance of the conductor and the magnitude of the passing current. For example, a capacitor with a capacity of 100 μF, charged up to 300 V, accumulates 4.5 J. In this case, the wire, of course, will evaporate - that is, an explosion will occur. A lightning discharge in a thunderstorm can also be considered an electrical explosion.

Nuclear explosion Is the process of releasing the intranuclear energy of atoms during uncontrolled nuclear reactions. Here energy is released not only in the form of heat - the spectrum of radiation in the electromagnetic range during a nuclear explosion is truly colossal. In addition, the energy of a nuclear explosion is carried away by fission fragments or fusion products, fast electrons and neutrons.

The concept of an explosion among astrophysicists is unimaginable from the perspective of terrestrial scales - here we are talking about the release of energy in such quantities that mankind will probably not produce over the entire period of its existence. Thanks to the explosions of supernovae of the first and second generation, which caused the release of heavy elements, the solar system appeared, on the third planet of which life was able to originate. And if we recall the Big Bang theory, we can say with confidence that not only earthly life, but our entire universe owes its existence to an explosion.

Chemical explosion

Thermochemistry does not exist. Destruction. Destructive chemistry, that's what. This is a tremendous thing, Tomesh, from a purely scientific point of view.

Karel Chapek, "Krakatit"

Well, now we seem to have decided on those types of explosions that we will not consider in the future. Let's move on to the subject of interest to us - the well-known chemical explosions.

A hundred-ton chemical test explosion at the Alamogordo nuclear test site.

Chemical explosion Is the process of converting the internal energy of molecular bonds into thermal energy with a rapid and uncontrollable course of chemical reactions. But in this definition we find the same problem as with the definition of an explosion in general - there is no consensus about which chemical processes can be considered an explosion.

In the opinion of most experts, the most stringent criterion for a chemical explosion is the propagation of the reaction due to the detonation process, and not deflagration.

Detonation Is the supersonic propagation of the compression front with an accompanying exothermic reaction in the substance. The detonation mechanism is that as a result of the onset of a chemical reaction, a large amount of thermal energy and gaseous products are released under high pressure, which forms a shock wave. When its front passes through the substance, a shock wave occurs and the temperature rises sharply (in physics this phenomenon is described by an adiabatic process), initiating a further chemical reaction. Thus, detonation is a self-sustaining mechanism for the fastest (avalanche) involvement of a substance in a chemical reaction.

The ignition of a match head occurs thousands of times slower than the slowest explosion.

On a note: detonation speed is one of the most important characteristics of an explosive. For solid explosives, it ranges from 1.2 km / s to 9 km / s. The higher the detonation velocity, the higher the pressure in the seal zone and the efficiency of the explosion.

Deflagration- a subsonic redox process, in which the reaction front moves due to heat transfer. That is, we are talking about the well-known process of combustion of a reducing agent in an oxidizing agent. The speed of propagation of the combustion front is determined not only by the calorific value of the reaction and the efficiency of heat transfer in the substance, but also by the mechanism of the oxidizer's access to the reaction zone.

But here, too, not everything is clear. For example, a powerful jet of combustible gas in the atmosphere will burn in a rather complex way - not only over the surface of the gas jet, but also in that part of the volume where air will be sucked in due to the jet effect. In this case, detonation processes are also possible - a kind of "pops" with the breakdown of the flame torch.

It is interesting: the combustion laboratory of the Research Institute of Physics, where I once worked, struggled for more than two years on the task of controlled detonation of a hydrogen torch. In those days it was jokingly called "Laboratory of combustion and, if possible, explosion".

From all that has been said, one important conclusion should be drawn - there are a variety of combinations of combustion and detonation processes and transitions in one direction or another. For this reason, for simplicity, various fast exothermic processes are usually referred to as chemical explosions without specifying their nature.

Necessary terminology

- What are you, what numbers are there! The first experience ... fifty percent starch ... and the crusher shattered; one engineer and two laboratory assistants ... also to smithereens. Don't believe me? Experience two: Trauzl's block, ninety percent Vaseline, and - boom! The roof was blown off, one worker was killed; only greaves remained from the block.

Karel Chapek, "Krakatit"

Sapper protective suit. It neutralizes explosive devices of unknown design.

Before we move on to a direct acquaintance with explosives, you should understand a little about some of the concepts associated with this class of chemical compounds. All of you have probably heard the terms "high-explosive charge" and "blasting explosives". Let's see what they mean.

High explosiveness- the most general characteristic of an explosive, which determines the measure of its destructive effectiveness. The high-explosiveness directly depends on the amount of gaseous products released during the explosion.

In the numerical assessment of explosiveness, different methods are used, the most famous of which is Trauzl test... The test is carried out by detonating a 10 gram charge placed in a hermetically sealed cylindrical lead container (sometimes called Trauzl's bomb). An explosion inflates the container. The difference between its volumes before and after the explosion, expressed in cubic centimeters, is a measure of the explosiveness. Often they use the so-called comparative explosiveness, expressed as the ratio of the results obtained to the results of detonating 10 grams of crystalline TNT.

On a note: comparative explosiveness should not be confused with TNT equivalent - these are completely different concepts.

Such ruptures of the shell indicate a low charge brisance.

Brisance- the ability of explosives to produce, during an explosion, crushing of a solid medium in the immediate vicinity of the charge (several of its radii). This characteristic depends primarily on the physical state of the explosive (density, uniformity, degree of crushing). With an increase in density, brisance increases simultaneously with an increase in detonation velocity.

Brisance can be adjusted within wide limits by mixing an explosive with the so-called phlegmatizers- chemical compounds incapable of explosion.

To measure brisance, in most cases, indirect Hess test, in which a charge weighing 50 grams is installed on a lead cylinder of a certain height and diameter, undermines, and then the height of the cylinder compressed by the explosion is measured. The difference between the heights of the cylinder before and after the explosion, expressed in millimeters, is the measure of brisance.

However, the Hess test is not suitable for testing high blasting explosives - a 50 gram charge simply destroys the lead cylinder to the bottom. For such cases, use brisantometer Casta with a copper cylinder called crusher.

Such an explosion is very effective, but, as a rule, it is ineffective.
veins - too much energy was spent on heating the smoke cloud.

On a note: high explosiveness and high explosiveness are values ​​that are not related to each other. Once upon a time, in my early youth, I was fond of the chemistry of explosives. And once I received a few grams of acetone peroxide spontaneously detonated, destroying the earthenware crucible to the state of the smallest dust that covered the table with a thin layer. At that time I was literally a meter away from the explosion, but I was not injured in the least. As you can see, acetone peroxide has excellent blasting capacity, but low explosiveness. The same amount of explosive with high explosiveness could lead to barotrauma and even contusion.

Sensitivity - a characteristic that determines the likelihood of an explosion at some specific effect on an explosive. Most often, this value is presented in the form of the minimum value of the impact that leads to a guaranteed explosion under some standard conditions.

There are many different methods for determining a particular sensitivity (impact, friction, heating, spark discharge, lumbago, detonation). All these types of sensitivity are extremely important for the organization of the safe production, transportation and use of explosives.

It is interesting: sensitivity records belong to very simple chemical compounds. Nitrogen iodide (aka triiodine nitride) I3N in dry form detonates from a flash of light, from holding it with a feather, from weak pressure or heating, even from a loud sound. This is perhaps the only explosive that detonates from alpha radiation. A crystal of xenon trioxide - the most stable of xenon oxides - is capable of detonating from its own weight if its mass exceeds 20 mg.

Explosion welding gives such a bead pattern at the cut. The wave is clearly visible
shaped structure formed by a standing shock wave in detail.

Detonation sensitivity is classified into a special term - susceptibility, that is, the ability of an explosive charge to explode when exposed to the factors of the explosion of another charge. Most often, the susceptibility is expressed in terms of the mass of mercury fulminate required for guaranteed detonation of the charge. For example, for TNT, the susceptibility is 0.15 g.

There is another very important concept associated with explosives - critical diameter... This is the smallest diameter of a cylindrical charge at which the propagation of the detonation process is possible.

If the charge diameter is less than the critical one, then either detonation does not occur at all or decays as its front moves along the cylinder. It should be noted that the detonation velocity of a certain explosive is far from constant - with an increase in the charge diameter, it increases to a value characteristic of a given explosive and its physical state. The diameter of the charge at which the detonation velocity becomes constant is called limiting diameter.

The critical detonation diameter is usually determined by detonating model charges with a length of at least five charge diameters. For high explosives, it is usually a few millimeters.

Volumetric blast ammunition

Humanity became acquainted with the volumetric explosion long before the creation of the first explosive. Flour dust in mills, coal dust in mines, microscopic plant fibers in the air of manufactories are flammable aerosols, capable of detonation under certain conditions. One spark was enough - and huge rooms crumbled like houses of cards from a monstrous explosion of dust almost invisible to the eye.

A volumetric explosion inside a car has the following consequences.

Such a phenomenon, sooner or later, should have attracted the attention of the military - and, of course, it did. There is a type of ammunition that uses the spraying of a combustible substance in the form of an aerosol and detonation of the resulting gas cloud - volumetric explosion ammunition (sometimes called thermobaric ammunition).

The principle of operation of a space-detonating aerial bomb consists in a two-stage detonation - first, one explosive charge sprays a combustible substance in the air, then the second charge detonates the resulting fuel-air mixture.

The volumetric explosion has an important feature that distinguishes it from the detonation of a concentrated charge - the explosion of a fuel-air mixture has a much greater high-explosive effect than a classical charge of the same mass. Moreover, with an increase in the size of the cloud, the explosiveness increases nonlinearly. Large-caliber volumetric detonating bombs can create an explosion comparable in energy to a low-yield tactical nuclear charge.

The main damaging factor of a volumetric explosion is a shock wave, since the blasting action is indistinguishable from zero here.

Information about thermobaric ammunition, distorted beyond recognition by illiterate journalists, drives a knowledgeable person into righteous rage, and an ignorant one into panic horror. It is not enough for dreamers from journalism that they called a volumetric detonation bomb with the ridiculous term "vacuum bomb". They follow Joseph Goebbels' directions and heap such wild nonsense that some people believe in it.

Testing a thermobaric explosive device. It seems that it is still very far from the combat model.

“... The principle of operation of this terrible weapon, approaching in power to a nuclear bomb, is based on a kind of explosion in reverse. When this bomb explodes, oxygen is instantly burned, a deep vacuum is formed, deeper than in open space. All surrounding objects, people, cars, animals, trees are instantly drawn into the epicenter of the explosion and, colliding, turn into powder ... "

Agree, "oxygen combustion" alone clearly indicates "three classes and two corridors." And the "vacuum, deeper than in open space" unequivocally hints that the author of this scribble is unaware of the presence of 78% nitrogen in the air, which is completely unsuitable for "combustion". Only the unbridled fantasy pouring people, animals and trees into the epicenter (sic!) Evokes involuntary admiration.

Classification of explosives

“Everything is explosive ... you just have to take it right.

Karel Chapek, "Krakatit"

Yes, these are also explosive substances. But we will not discuss them, but simply admire them.

To this day, the chemistry and technology of explosives is considered a field of knowledge with strictly limited access to information. This state of affairs inevitably leads to a multitude of very diverse formulations and definitions. And it is for this reason that the UN special commission adopted in 2003 the "System for the classification and labeling of chemical products", agreed at the global level. Below is the definition of explosives taken from this document.

Explosive(or mixture) - a solid or liquid substance (or a mixture of substances), which in itself is capable of a chemical reaction with the release of gases at such a temperature and such a pressure and at such a rate that it causes damage to surrounding objects. Pyrotechnic substances are included in this category even if they do not emit gases.

Pyrotechnic substance(or mixture) - a substance or a mixture of substances that are intended to produce an effect in the form of heat, fire, sound or smoke or their combination as a result of self-sustaining exothermic chemical reactions that proceed without detonation.

Thus, the category of explosives traditionally includes all kinds of powder compositions capable of burning without air access. Moreover, the same firecrackers belong to the same category, with which the people so love to please themselves on New Year's Eve. But below we will talk about "real" explosives, without which the military, builders and miners cannot imagine their existence.

Explosives are classified according to several principles - composition, physical state, form of explosion, field of application.

Compound

There are two large classes of explosives - individual and composite.

Individual are chemical compounds capable of intramolecular oxidation. In this case, the molecule should not at all contain oxygen in its composition - it is enough for one part of the molecule to transfer an electron to its other part with a positive thermal yield.

Energetically, the molecule of such an explosive can be thought of as a ball lying in a depression on the top of a mountain. It will lie quietly until a relatively small impulse is transmitted to it, after which it will slide down the mountainside, releasing energy that significantly exceeds the expended one.

A pound of TNT in its original packaging and an ammonal charge weighing 20 kilograms.

Individual explosives include trinitrotoluene (aka TNT, tol, TNT), RDX, nitroglycerin, mercury fulminate (mercury fulminate), lead azide.

Composite consist of two or more substances that are not chemically related to each other. Sometimes the components of such explosives by themselves are not capable of detonation, but exhibit these properties when reacting with each other (usually we are talking about a mixture of an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent). A typical example of such a two-component composite is oxyliquite (a porous combustible substance impregnated with liquid oxygen).

Composites can also consist of a mixture of individual explosives with additives that regulate sensitivity, explosiveness and blasting. Such additives can both weaken the explosive characteristics of composites (paraffin, ceresin, talc, diphenylamine) and enhance them (powders of various reactive metals - aluminum, magnesium, zirconium). In addition, there are stabilizing additives that increase the shelf life of finished explosive charges, and conditioning additives that bring the explosive to the required physical state.

In connection with the development and spread of world terrorism, the requirements for the control of explosives have become more stringent. The composition of modern explosives without fail includes chemical markers found in explosion products and unambiguously indicating the manufacturer, as well as odorous substances that help in the detection of explosive charges by service dogs and gas chromatography devices.

The physical state

The American BLU-82 / B bomb contains 5700 kg of ammonal. This is one of the most powerful conventional bombs.

This classification is quite extensive. It includes not only three states of matter (gas, liquid, solid), but also all kinds of dispersed systems (gels, suspensions, emulsions). A typical liquid explosive, nitroglycerin, dissolves nitrocellulose into a gel known as explosive jelly, and when this gel is mixed with a solid absorbent, solid dynamite is formed.

The so-called "explosive gases", that is, mixtures of hydrogen with oxygen or chlorine, are practically not used either in industry or in military affairs. They are extremely unstable, extremely sensitive and do not allow precise explosives. There are, however, so-called volumetric blast munitions, in which the military is showing great interest. They do not fall into the category of gaseous explosives, but they are quite close to it.

Most modern industrial formulations are aqueous suspensions of composites consisting of ammonium nitrate and combustible components. Such compositions are very convenient for transportation to the blasting site and for pouring into boreholes. And the widespread Sprengel formulations are stored separately and prepared directly at the site of use in the required amount.

Military explosives are generally solid. The world famous trinitrotoluene melts without decomposition and therefore allows the creation of monolithic charges. And the equally well-known RDX and PETN decompose during melting (sometimes with an explosion), therefore charges from such explosives are formed by pressing the crystalline mass in a wet state, followed by drying. Ammonites and ammonals used in filling ammunition are usually granulated to facilitate backfilling.

Explosion work shape

Purified explosive mercury is somewhat reminiscent of the March snowdrifts.

To ensure the safety of storage and use, industrial and military charges must be formed from insensitive explosives - the lower their sensitivity, the better. And to detonate these charges, charges are used that are small enough so that their spontaneous detonation during storage does not cause significant damage. A typical example of this approach is the RGD-5 offensive grenade with the UZRGM fuse.

Initiating are called individual or mixed explosives that are highly sensitive to simple effects (impact, friction, heating). From such substances, the release of energy is required, sufficient to start the detonation process of high explosives - that is, a high initiating ability. In addition, they must have good flowability and compressibility, chemical resistance, and compatibility with secondary explosives.

Initiating explosives are used in a special design - the so-called detonator caps and igniter caps. They are everywhere where you need to make an explosion. And they cannot be divided into "military" and "civilian" - the method of using high explosives does not play any role here.

It is interesting: tetrazole derivatives are used in automobile airbags as a source of explosive nitrogen gas evolution. As you can see, an explosion can not only kill, but also save life.

This is how - in flakes - the trinitrotoluene obtained
Heinrich Cast.

Examples of primer explosives include mercury fulminate, lead azide and lead trinitroresorcinate. However, at present, initiating explosives that do not contain heavy metals are being actively sought and introduced. Compositions based on nitrotetrazole in combination with iron are recommended as environmentally friendly ones. And ammonia complexes of cobalt perchlorate with tetrazole derivatives are detonated from a laser beam supplied through an optical fiber. This technology eliminates accidental detonation when static charge builds up and significantly increases the safety of blasting operations.

Blasting explosives, as already mentioned, are of low sensitivity. Various nitro compounds are widely used as individual and mixed compositions. In addition to the usual and well-known TNT, one can recall nitroamines (tetryl, hexogen, octogen), nitric acid esters (nitroglycerin, nitroglycol), cellulose nitrates.

It is interesting: having served the explosives of all stripes faithfully for a hundred years, trinitrotoluene is losing ground. In any case, in the United States, it has not been used for blasting operations since 1990. The reason lies in all the same environmental considerations - the products of the explosion of TNT are very toxic.

High explosives are used to equip artillery shells, aerial bombs, torpedoes, missile warheads of various classes, hand grenades - in a word, their military use is immense.

We should also remember about nuclear weapons, where a chemical explosion is used to transfer an assembly to a supercritical state. However, here the word "blasting" should be used with caution - from implosion lenses it is required just a low blasting rate with a high explosiveness, so that the assembly is compressed, and not shattered by an explosion. For this purpose, boratol (a mixture of TNT with barium nitrate) is used - a composition with a large gas evolution, but a low detonation velocity.

Crazy Horse Memorial,
driven in South Dakota and dedicated to the Indian chief Crazy Horse, hewn out of solid rock
with explosives.

The unofficial name of the air
bombs GBU-43 / B - Mother Of All Bombs. At the time of its creation, it was the largest non-nuclear bomb in the world and contained 8.5 tons of explosives.

It is interesting: The Crazy Horse Memorial, erected in South Dakota in honor of the legendary Ogla Indian war chief, is made with explosives.

Blasting charges are used in rocket and space technology to separate the structural elements of launch vehicles and spacecraft, eject and shoot parachutes, and emergency shutdown of engines. Aviation automatics also did not ignore them - shooting the canopy of the fighter's cockpit before ejection is carried out with small blasting charges. And in the Mi-28 helicopter, such charges perform three functions at once during an emergency exit from the helicopter - shooting the blades, dropping the cockpit doors and inflating the safety chambers located below the door level.

A significant amount of blasting explosives is consumed in mining (overburden, mining), in construction (preparation of excavations, destruction of rocks and dismantled building structures), in industry (explosion welding, hardening pulse processing of metals, stamping).

Plastite or plastid?

To be honest, both forms of the "popular journalist" name for the plastic explosive compound Composition C-4 evoke in me approximately the same feelings as the "epicenter of the explosion of a vacuum bomb."

However, why exactly C-4? No, plastic is an explosive of monstrous destructive power, traces of which are invariably found in airports, schools and hospitals blown up by terrorists. Not a single self-respecting terrorist will even touch tolu or ammonal with a finger - these are children's toys compared to plastic, one matchbox of which turns a car into a fireball, and a kilogram blows a multi-storey building to rubbish.

Plugging detonators into soft C-4 briquettes is a simple matter. This is how military explosives should be - simple and reliable.

But what, then, is "plastid"? And, so this is the name of the same super-powerful explosives of terrorists, but written by a person who wants to show that he is "in the subject." Say, "plasticity" is written by illiterate ignoramuses. And in general, this is some kind of third person verb in the present tense. It is correct to write "plastid".

Well, now that I have poured out the accumulated bile, let's talk seriously. Neither plastid nor plastid exist in the understanding of explosives. Even before World War II, a whole class of plastic explosive compounds appeared - most often based on RDX or HMX. These compositions were created for civilian technical work. Try, for example, attaching a few TNT sticks to a vertical I-beam that needs to be destroyed. And do not forget that they should be undermined synchronously, with an accuracy of fractions of a millisecond. And with plastic compounds, everything is much simpler - I covered the beam with a substance similar to hard plasticine, stuck a couple of electric detonators in it around the perimeter - and that's the hat.

Later, when it turned out that plastic explosives were very convenient for placement, the American military became interested in them and created dozens of different compositions for themselves. And it just so happened that the most popular of all was the unremarkable Composition C-4, developed in the 1960s for military sabotage needs. But he was never "plastic". And he was never a "plastid" either.

Explosive history

Yes, I will unleash a storm like never before; I will give krakatite, the liberated element, and the boat of mankind will be shattered to smithereens ... Thousands of thousands will perish. Nations will be destroyed and cities swept away; there will be no limit to those who have weapons in their hands and death in their hearts.

Karel Chapek, "Krakatit"

For hundreds of years from the moment gunpowder was invented until 1863, mankind had no idea of ​​the power dormant in explosives. All blasting work was carried out by filling in a certain amount of gunpowder, then ignited with a wick. With a significant high-explosive effect of such an explosion, its brisance was practically zero.

Until the end of the First World War, there is
put in powder bombs
would be loud and ridiculous.

Artillery shells and bombs loaded with gunpowder had a negligible fragmentation effect. With a relatively slow increase in the pressure of the powder gases, the cast-iron and steel hulls collapsed along two or three lines of least strength, giving a very small number of very large fragments. The probability of hitting enemy personnel with such fragments was so small that powder bombs provided mainly a demoralizing effect.

Grimaces of fate

The discovery of a chemical and the discovery of its explosive properties often took place at different times. As a matter of fact, the history of explosives could begin in 1832, when the French chemist Henri Braconneau received the product of complete nitration of cellulose - pyroxylin. However, no one began to study its properties, and then there were no ways to initiate the detonation of pyroxylin.

If you look even further into the past, you will find that one of the most common explosives - picric acid - was obtained in 1771. But at that time there was not even a theoretical possibility to carry out its detonation - explosive mercury appeared only in 1799, and more than thirty years remained before the first use of explosive mercury in igniter capsules.

Liquid start

The history of modern explosives begins in 1846, when the Italian scientist Ascanio Sobrero first obtained nitroglycerin, an ester of glycerin and nitric acid. Sobrero quickly discovered the explosive properties of a colorless viscous liquid and therefore at first called the resulting compound pyroglycerin.

Alfred Nobel is the man who created dynamite.

Three-dimensional model of a nitroglycerin molecule.

According to modern concepts, nitroglycerin is a very mediocre explosive. In a liquid state, it is too sensitive to shock and heat, and in a solid (cooled to 13 ° C) - to friction. The high explosiveness and high explosiveness of nitroglycerin strongly depend on the initiation method, and when a weak detonator is used, the explosion power is relatively low. But then it was a breakthrough - the world did not yet know such substances.

The practical use of nitroglycerin began only seventeen years later. In 1863, Swedish engineer Alfred Nobel designs a powder primer igniter that allows nitroglycerin to be used in mining. Two years later, in 1865, Nobel created the first full-fledged detonator capsule containing mercury fulminate. With the help of such a detonator, you can initiate almost any high explosive and cause a full explosion.

In 1867, the first explosives suitable for safe storage and transportation appeared - dynamite. It took Nobel nine years to bring the technology of dynamite production to perfection - in 1876 a solution of nitrocellulose in nitroglycerin (or "detonating jelly") was patented, which is still considered one of the most powerful explosives of high blasting action. It was from this composition that the famous Nobel dynamite was prepared.

The outstanding chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel, who actually changed the face of the world and gave a real impetus to the development of modern military and, indirectly, space technology, died in 1896, having lived 63 years. Being in poor health, he was so carried away by work that he often forgot to eat. A laboratory was built at each of his factories so that the unexpected owner could continue experiments without the slightest delay. He was the general director of his factories, and the chief accountant, and the chief engineer and technologist, and the secretary. The thirst for knowledge was the main feature of his character: "The things I'm working on are really monstrous, but they are so interesting, so technically perfect, that they become doubly attractive."

Explosive dye

In 1868, the British chemist Frederick-August Abel, after six years of research, managed to obtain pressed pyroxylin. However, with regard to trinitrophenol (picric acid), Abel was assigned the role of "authoritative brake". Since the beginning of the 19th century, the explosive properties of picric acid salts were known, but no one guessed that picric acid itself was explosive until 1873. Picric acid has been used as a colorant for centuries. In those days, when the lively testing of the explosive properties of various substances began, Abel several times authoritatively declared that trinitrophenol was absolutely inert.

Three-dimensional model of a trinitrophenol molecule.

Hermann Sprengel was of German descent.
nyu, but lived and worked in the UK. It was he who gave the French
the opportunity to make money on the secret mellite.

In 1873, German Hermann Sprengel, who created a whole class of explosives, convincingly showed the ability of trinitrophenol to detonate, but then another difficulty arose - pressed crystalline trinitrophenol turned out to be very capricious and unpredictable - it did not explode when necessary, then exploded when not necessary.

Picric acid appears before the French Explosives Commission. It was found that it is a powerful blasting agent, second only to nitroglycerin, but it is slightly reduced by the oxygen balance. They also found out that picric acid itself has a low sensitivity, and its salts formed during long-term storage detonate. These studies marked the beginning of a complete revolution in views on picric acid. Finally, mistrust in the new explosive was dispelled by the works of the Parisian chemist Turpin, who showed that fused picric acid unrecognizably changes its properties compared to the pressed crystalline mass and completely loses its dangerous sensitivity.

It is interesting: later it turned out that fusion solved the problems with detonation in an explosive similar to trinitrophenol - trinitrotoluene.

Such studies, of course, were strictly classified. And in the eighties of the XIX century, when the French began to produce a new explosive called "melinite", Russia, Germany, Great Britain and the United States showed great interest in it. After all, the high-explosive effect of ammunition equipped with melinite looks impressive today. Intelligence began to work actively, and after a short time the secret of melinitis became the secret of Punchinelle.

In 1890, D.I.Mendeleev wrote to the naval minister Chikhachev: “As for melinite, the destructive effect of which surpasses all these tests, according to private sources from different sides it is uniformly understood that melinite is nothing but cooled picric acid fused under high pressure”.

Wake up the demon

Ironically, the “relative” of picric acid - trinitrotoluene - had a similar fate. It was first obtained by the German chemist Wilbrand back in 1863, but it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that it found use as an explosive, when the German engineer Heinrich Cast undertook its research. First of all, he drew attention to the technology for the synthesis of trinitrotoluene - it did not contain explosion-hazardous stages. That alone was a colossal advantage. The numerous horrific explosions of factories producing nitroglycerin were still fresh in the memory of Europeans.

Three-dimensional model of a trinitrotoluene molecule.

Another important advantage was the chemical inertness of trinitrotoluene - the reactivity and hygroscopicity of picric acid pretty much annoyed the designers of artillery shells.

The yellowish flakes of TNT, received by Cast, displayed a surprisingly peaceful disposition - so peaceful that many doubted its ability to detonate. Strong blows with a hammer flattened the scales, TNT exploded in the fire no better than birch wood, and burned much worse. It got to the point that they tried to shoot from rifles into bags with trinitrotoluene. The result was only clouds of yellow dust.

But a way to wake up the dormant demon was found - for the first time this happened when a melinite block was detonated close to the mass of trinitrotoluene. And then it turned out that if it is fused into a monolithic block, then reliable detonation is provided by a standard Nobel detonator cap # 8. The rest of the fused trinitrotoluene turned out to be the same phlegmatic as before melting. It can be sawed, drilled, pressed, grinded - in short, you can do whatever you like. The melting temperature of 80 ° C is extremely convenient from a technological point of view - it will not flow in the heat, but it does not require special costs for melting. Molten trinitrotoluene is very fluid, it can be easily poured into shells and bombs through the opening of the fuse. In general, a dream come true for the military.

Under Cast's leadership in 1905, Germany received the first hundred tons of new explosives. As in the case of French melinite, it was strictly classified and bore the meaningless name "TNT". But after only a year, through the efforts of the Russian officer V.I.Rdultovsky, the secret of TNT was revealed, and it began to be produced in Russia.

Of air and water

Explosives based on ammonium nitrate were patented in 1867, but due to their high hygroscopicity, they were not used for a long time. Things got off the ground only after the development of the production of mineral fertilizers, when effective ways were found to prevent the caking of nitrate.

A large number of explosives containing nitrogen discovered in the 19th century (melinite, TNT, nitromannite, pentrite, hexogen) required a large amount of nitric acid. This prompted German chemists to develop a technology for binding atmospheric nitrogen, which, in turn, made it possible to obtain explosives without the participation of mineral and fossil raw materials.

Demolition of a dilapidated bridge with blasting charges. Such work is the art of anticipating consequences.

This is how six tons of ammonal explode.

Ammonium nitrate, which serves as the basis for explosive composites, is literally produced from air and water by the Haber method (the same Fritz Haber, who is known as the creator of chemical weapons). Explosives based on ammonium nitrate (ammonites and ammonals) revolutionized industrial explosives. They turned out to be not only very powerful, but also extremely cheap.

Thus, the mining and construction industry received cheap explosives, which, if necessary, can be successfully used in military affairs.

In the middle of the 20th century, composites of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel spread in the United States, and then water-filled mixtures were obtained that are well suited for explosions in deep vertical wells. Currently, the list of individual and composite explosives used in the world includes hundreds of items.

So, let's summarize a short and, perhaps, disappointing for some, summary of our acquaintance with explosives. We got acquainted with the terminology of explosives, learned what explosives are and where they are used, remembered a little history. Yes, we have not improved our education in terms of creating explosives and explosive devices. And this, I tell you, is for the best. Be happy at the slightest opportunity.

By the hand of a child

Military engineer John Newton.

A striking example of work that would have been impossible without explosives is the destruction of the rocky Flood Rock reef at Hell's Gate, a narrow section of the East River near New York.

136 tons of explosives were used to produce this explosion. On an area of ​​38,220 square meters, 6.5 kilometers of galleries were laid, in which 13280 charges were placed (an average of 11 kilograms of explosives per charge). The work was carried out under the guidance of a veteran of the Civil War, John Newton.

On October 10, 1885, at 11:13 am, Newton's twelve-year-old daughter applied an electric current to the detonators. The water rose in a boiling mass over an area of ​​100 thousand square meters, three consecutive tremors were noted within 45 seconds. The noise from the explosion lasted for about a minute and was heard at a distance of fifteen kilometers. This explosion shortened the journey to New York from the Atlantic Ocean by more than twelve hours.

Since gunpowder was invented, the world race for the most powerful explosives has not stopped. This is still relevant today, despite the emergence of nuclear weapons.

RDX is an explosive drug

Back in 1899, for the treatment of inflammation in the urinary tract, the German chemist Hans Genning patented the drug hexogen, an analogue of the well-known urotropin. But soon doctors lost interest in him due to side intoxication. Only thirty years later it became clear that RDX turned out to be the most powerful explosive, moreover, more destructive than TNT. A kilogram of RDX explosives will produce the same destruction as 1.25 kilograms of TNT.

Pyrotechnic specialists mainly characterize explosives as high-explosive and high-explosive. In the first case, one speaks of the volume of gas released during the explosion. Like, the larger it is, the more powerful the explosiveness. Brisance, in turn, depends on the rate of formation of gases and shows how explosives can crush surrounding materials.

10 grams of RDX in an explosion emit 480 cubic centimeters of gas, while TNT - 285 cubic centimeters. In other words, hexagen is 1.7 times more powerful than TNT in terms of explosiveness and 1.26 times more dynamic in terms of brisance.

However, the media most often uses a certain average indicator. For example, the atomic charge "Kid", dropped on August 6, 1945, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, is estimated at 13-18 kilotons in TNT equivalent. Meanwhile, this does not characterize the power of the explosion, but speaks of how much TNT is needed to release the same amount of heat as during the indicated nuclear bombardment.

Octogen - half a billion dollars in air

In 1942, the American chemist Bachmann, while conducting experiments with hexogen, accidentally discovered a new substance, HMX, in the form of an impurity. He offered his find to the military, but they refused. Meanwhile, a few years later, after it was possible to stabilize the properties of this chemical compound, the Pentagon nevertheless became interested in HMX. True, it was not widely used in its pure form for military purposes, most often in a molding mixture with TNT. This explosive is called "oktolom". It turned out to be 15% more powerful than RDX. As for its effectiveness, it is believed that one kilogram of HMX will produce the same amount of destruction as four kilograms of TNT.

However, in those years, the production of HMX was 10 times more expensive than the manufacture of RDX, which held back its release in the Soviet Union. Our generals calculated that it is better to produce six shells with RDX than one shell with octol. That is why the explosion of an ammunition depot in Vietnamese Cui Ngon in April 1969 cost the Americans so dearly. Then a Pentagon spokesman said that due to the sabotage of the partisans, the damage amounted to $ 123 million, or about $ 0.5 billion in current prices.

In the 80s of the last century, after Soviet chemists, including E.Yu. Orlov, developed an efficient and inexpensive technology for the synthesis of HMX, and it began to be produced in large volumes in our country.

Astrolite - good, but smells bad

In the early 60s of the last century, the American company EXCOA presented a new explosive based on hydrazine, claiming that it was 20 times more powerful than TNT. The Pentagon generals who arrived for testing were knocked down by the eerie smell of an abandoned public toilet. However, they were ready to tolerate it. However, a series of tests with aerial bombs fueled with astrolite A 1-5 showed that the explosives were only twice as powerful as TNT.

After Pentagon officials rejected this bomb, engineers from EXCOA proposed a new version of this explosive already under the ASTRA-PAK brand, and for digging trenches using a directed explosion. In a commercial, a soldier poured a thin trickle over the ground, and then detonated liquid from a hiding place. And the human-sized trench was ready. On its own initiative, EXCOA produced 1000 sets of such explosives and sent them to the Vietnamese front.

In reality, it all ended sadly and anecdotally. The resulting trenches exuded such a disgusting smell that American soldiers tried to leave them at any cost, regardless of orders and danger to life. Those who remained fainted. The unused kits were sent back to the EXCOA office at their own expense.

Explosives that kill their own

Along with RDX and HMX, the hard-to-pronounce tetranitropentaerythritol, which is more often called ten, is considered a classic of explosives. However, due to its high sensitivity, it has not received widespread use. The fact is that for military purposes, it is not so much explosives that are more destructive than others that are important, but those that do not explode from any touch, that is, with low sensitivity.

The Americans are especially picky about this issue. It was they who developed the NATO standard STANAG 4439 for the sensitivity of explosives that can be used for military purposes. True, this happened after a series of serious incidents, including: the explosion of a warehouse at the American Bien Ho Air Force base in Vietnam, which cost the lives of 33 technicians; the crash aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal, which damaged 60 aircraft; detonation in the storage of aircraft missiles on board the aircraft carrier "Oriskani" (1966), also with numerous victims.

Chinese destroyer

In the 80s of the last century, the substance tricyclic urea was synthesized. It is believed that the first people to receive these explosives were the Chinese. Tests have shown the enormous destructive power of "urea" - one kilogram of it replaced twenty-two kilograms of TNT.

Experts agree with such conclusions, since the "Chinese destroyer" has the highest density of all known explosives, and at the same time has the maximum oxygen coefficient. That is, during the explosion, one hundred percent of the material is burned. By the way, for TNT it is 0.74.

In reality, tricyclic urea is not suitable for military operations, primarily due to its poor hydrolytic stability. The very next day, with standard storage, it turns into mucus. However, the Chinese managed to get another "urea" - dinitromourea, which, although worse in explosiveness than the "destroyer", but also belongs to one of the most powerful explosives. Today it is produced by the Americans at their three pilot plants.

A Pyromaniac's Dream - CL-20

Explosive CL-20 today is positioned as one of the most powerful. In particular, the media, including Russian ones, claim that one kg of CL-20 causes destruction, which requires 20 kg of TNT.

It is interesting that the Pentagon allocated money for the development of the СL-20 only after the American press reported that such explosives had already been made in the USSR. In particular, one of the reports on this topic was called: "Perhaps this substance was developed by the Russians at the Zelinsky Institute."

In reality, the Americans considered another explosive first obtained in the USSR as a promising explosive, namely diaminoazoxyfurazan. Along with its high power, significantly superior to HMX, it has a low sensitivity. The only thing that hinders its widespread use is the lack of industrial technologies.

Nitroglycerin, nitroglycols are colorless oily liquids, highly sensitive to mechanical stress, and therefore the transportation of nitroesters is prohibited, and they are processed at the place of manufacture.

Nitromethane is a colorless mobile liquid, soluble in water, detonates on impact and from an explosive impulse, the minimum initiating impulse is 3-5 g of TNT, is sensitive to mechanical shock and friction. In terms of energy characteristics, it is equivalent to RDX.

Composition VS-6D is a four-component eutectic composition. In appearance, it is an oily liquid from light yellow to dark yellow in color. Non-hygroscopic, insoluble in water. Soluble in acetone, dichloroethane, ethyl alcohol. Alkali solutions decompose the composition of VS-6D. Has a general toxic effect at the RDX level. It is used in anti-personnel mines for remote mining systems.

The composition of LD-70 is a readily mobile liquid from light yellow to dark yellow. Contains diethylene glycol dinitrate (70%) and triethylene glycol dinitrate (30%). Physical properties and compatibility with construction materials as in VS-6D. It is combined with steel 30, steel 12X18H10T, aluminum A-70m, brass, polyethylene, IRP-1266 rubber.

The industry has developed new powerful and inexpensive liquid explosives called "liquid explosives manufactured at the site of use" (VVZHIMI or Quasar-VV). A class of such explosives was discovered at the end of the 19th century. and received the name panklastites. They have a complex of explosive and operational characteristics that allow them to be classified as powerful blasting explosives with a critical diameter of 0.3 mm, a high degree of danger to static electricity charge, and a low (at the TNT level) value of sensitivity to initial mechanical impulses.

Table 16

Explosion	Initial characteristics			Derived characteristics
	Raft	Heat	Speed detonation,	Volumetric energy release, kJ / m 3	Charge action power, kJ / (m 2 s)
Ammo	1075	4335	4190	45,4	19,0
TNT	1660	4230	7000	70,2	49,1
VVZI	1290	6340	6700	81,8	54,8

Characteristics of LHV in comparison with known formulations

From the given data in table. 16 it follows that Quasar-BB is superior to TNT in terms of volumetric energy and power release. Nitrogen tetroxide is used as an oxidizing agent, and the well-known hydrocarbon products of oil cracking (kerosene or diesel fuel) are used as fuel. These components mix well. VVZHIMI exists for a short time, usually determined by the preparation time for the explosion, but no more than the guaranteed storage period (one day), and, if necessary, can be easily eliminated by dilution with water or neutralization with soda.

More on the topic Liquid explosives:

1. Violation of safety rules during mining, construction or other work
2. VERMACHT RATE DIRECTIVE OF FEBRUARY 7, 1941 ON THE GRADATION OF THE URGENCY OF THE PRODUCTION PROGRAMS
3. FROM THE REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE WAR ECONOMY AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRY ON THE RESULTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF WEAPONS

Explosive substance (explosive) is a chemical compound or their mixture, capable of exploding as a result of certain external influences or internal processes, releasing heat and forming highly heated gases.

The complex of processes that occurs in such a substance is called detonation.

Traditionally, explosives also include compounds and mixtures that do not detonate, but burn at a certain speed (propelling powder, pyrotechnic compositions).

There are also methods of exposure to various substances that lead to an explosion (for example, a laser or an electric arc). Usually such substances are not called "explosive".

The complexity and diversity of the chemistry and technology of explosives, political and military contradictions in the world, the desire to classify any information in this area have led to unstable and diverse formulations of terms.

An explosive substance (or mixture) is a solid or liquid substance (or a mixture of substances), which itself is capable of a chemical reaction with the release of gases at such a temperature and such pressure and at such a rate that it causes damage to surrounding objects. Pyrotechnic substances are included in this category even if they do not emit gases.

Pyrotechnic substance (or mixture) - a substance or mixture of substances that are intended to produce an effect in the form of heat, fire, sound or smoke, or a combination thereof.

Explosives are understood to mean both individual explosives and explosive compositions containing one or more individual explosives, metal additives and other components.

The most important characteristics of explosives are:

Explosive transformation rate (detonation rate or burning rate),

Detonation pressure

The heat of the explosion

Composition and volume of gas products of explosive transformation,

Maximum temperature of explosion products,

Sensitivity to external influences,

Critical detonation diameter,

Critical detonation density.

During detonation, the decomposition of the explosive occurs so quickly that the gaseous decomposition products with a temperature of several thousand degrees are compressed in a volume close to the initial volume of the charge. Expanding sharply, they are the main primary factor in the destructive effect of an explosion.

There are 2 main types of explosives action:

Blasting (local action),

High-explosive (general action).

Brisance is the ability of an explosive to crush, destroy objects in contact with it (metal, rocks, etc.). The brisance value indicates how quickly gases are formed during an explosion. The higher the blasting rate of this or that explosive, the more it is suitable for equipping shells, mines, and aerial bombs. During an explosion, such an explosive will better crush the shell of the projectile, give the fragments the highest speed, and create a stronger shock wave. The characteristic is directly related to the brisance - the detonation speed, i.e. how fast the explosion process spreads through the explosive substance. Brisance is measured in millimeters.

High explosiveness - in other words, the efficiency of explosives, the ability to destroy and throw out of the explosion area surrounding materials (soil, concrete, brick, etc.). This characteristic is determined by the amount of gases formed during the explosion. The more gases are formed, the more work a given explosive can perform. The explosiveness is measured in cubic centimeters.

From this it becomes clear enough that different explosives are suitable for different purposes. For example, for blasting operations in the ground (in a mine, when making pits, breaking ice jams, etc.), an explosive with the highest explosiveness is more suitable, and any blasting is suitable. On the contrary, for equipping projectiles, first of all, high blasting is valuable and high explosiveness is not so important.

Explosives are widely used in industry for the production of various blasting operations.

The annual consumption of explosives in countries with developed industrial production, even in peacetime, amounts to hundreds of thousands of tons.

In wartime, the consumption of explosives increases sharply. So, during the 1st World War in the belligerent countries, it amounted to about 5 million tons, and in the 2nd World War it exceeded 10 million tons. The annual use of explosives in the United States in the 1990s was about 2 million tons.

In the Russian Federation, the free sale of explosives, explosives, propellants, all types of rocket fuel, as well as special materials and special equipment for their production, regulatory documentation for their production and operation is prohibited.

Explosives have individual chemical compounds.

Most of these compounds are oxygen-containing substances with the property of fully or partially oxidizing inside the molecule without access to air.

There are compounds that do not contain oxygen, but have the property of exploding. They, as a rule, are highly sensitive to external influences (friction, shock, heat, fire, spark, transition between phase states, other chemicals) and are classified as substances with increased explosiveness.

There are explosive mixtures that consist of two or more chemically unrelated substances.

Many explosive mixtures are composed of individual substances that do not have explosive properties (flammable, oxidizing and regulating additives). Regulatory additives are used for:

Reducing the sensitivity of explosives to external influences. For this, various substances are added - phlegmatizers (paraffin, ceresin, wax, diphenylamine, etc.)

To increase the heat of explosion. Metal powders such as aluminum, magnesium, zirconium, beryllium and other reducing agents are added.

To increase the stability during storage and use.

To ensure the necessary physical condition.

Explosives are classified according to their physical state:

Gaseous,

Gelatinous,

Suspension,

Emulsion,

Solid.

Depending on the type of explosion and sensitivity to external influences, all explosives are divided into 3 groups:

1. Initiators
2.Brisant
3 throwing

Initiating (primary)

Initiating explosives are designed to excite explosive transformations in the charges of other explosives. They are distinguished by increased sensitivity and easily explode from simple initial impulses (impact, friction, sting, electric spark, etc.).

Blasting (secondary)

Blasting explosives are less sensitive to external influences, and the excitation of explosive transformations in them is carried out mainly with the help of initiating explosives.

High explosives are used to equip the warheads of missiles of various classes, rocket and barrel artillery shells, artillery and engineering mines, aerial bombs, torpedoes, depth charges, hand grenades, etc.

A significant amount of blasting explosives is consumed in mining (overburden, mining), in construction (preparation of excavations, destruction of rocks, destruction of liquidated building structures), in industry (explosion welding, pulse processing of metals, etc.).

Propelling explosives (gunpowder and rocket propellants) serve as sources of energy for throwing bodies (shells, mines, bullets, etc.) or the movement of rockets. Their distinctive feature is the ability to explosively transform in the form of rapid combustion, but without detonation.

Pyrotechnic compositions are used to obtain pyrotechnic effects (light, smoke, incendiary, sound, etc.). The main type of explosive transformations of pyrotechnic compositions is combustion.

Propelling explosives (gunpowder) are mainly used as propelling charges for various types of weapons and are intended to give a projectile (torpedo, bullet, etc.) a certain initial velocity. Their predominant type of chemical transformation is rapid combustion caused by a ray of fire from the means of ignition.

There is also a classification of explosives in the direction of use for military and industrial for mining (mining), for construction (dams, canals, pits), for the destruction of building structures, anti-social use (terrorism, hooliganism), while low-quality handicraft substances and mixtures.

Explosives

There are a huge number of explosives, such as ammonium nitrate explosives, plastic, hexogen, melinite, TNT, dynamite, elastite and many other explosives.

1. Plastite- very popular explosives in mass propaganda. Especially if it is necessary to emphasize the particular insidiousness of the foe, the terrible possible consequences of the failed explosion, the clear trace of the special services, especially the severe suffering of the civilian population under the bombings. As soon as it is not called - plastic, plastid, plastic explosive, plastic explosive, plastic explosive. One plastid matchbox is enough to smash a truck to shreds, plastic explosives in the case are enough to destroy a 200-apartment building to the ground.

Plastite is a blasting explosive of normal power. Plastite has approximately the same explosive characteristics as TNT and all its difference lies in the ease of use in the production of blasting operations. This convenience is especially noticeable when undermining metal, reinforced concrete and concrete structures.

For example, metal is very good at resisting explosion. To break a metal beam, it is necessary to overlay it with explosives along its cross-section, and so that it fits as tightly as possible to the metal. It is clear that it is much faster and easier to do this, having at hand an explosive like plasticine, rather than like wooden chocks. Plastite is easy to place so that it will adhere tightly to the metal even where rivets, bolts, ledges, etc. interfere with the placement of TNT.

Main characteristics:

1. Sensitivity: Practically insensitive to shock, bullet, fire, spark, friction, chemical attack. It reliably explodes from a standard detonator capsule immersed in the explosive mass to a depth of at least 10 mm.

2. Energy of explosive transformation - 910 kcal / kg.

3. Speed ​​of detonation: 7000 m / s.

4. Brisance: 21mm.

5. Explosiveness: 280 cc.

6. Chemical resistance: Does not react with solid materials (metal, wood, plastics, concrete, brick, etc.), does not dissolve in water, is not hygroscopic, does not change its explosive properties during prolonged heating, wetting with water. Under prolonged exposure to sunlight, it darkens and slightly increases its sensitivity. When exposed to an open flame, it ignites and burns with a bright energetic flame. Combustion in an enclosed space of large quantities can develop into detonation.

7. Duration and conditions of working condition. The duration is not limited. Long-term (20-30 years) stay in water, earth, ammunition casings does not change the explosive properties.

8. Normal physical state: Plastic clayey substance. At low temperatures, it significantly reduces plasticity. At temperatures below -20 degrees, it hardens. As the temperature rises, the plasticity increases. At +30 degrees and above, it loses its mechanical strength. Lights up at +210 degrees.

9. Density: 1.44 g / cc.

Plastite is a mixture of RDX and plasticizing substances (ceresin, paraffin, etc.).

The appearance and consistency is highly dependent on the plasticizers used. Can have a paste to dense clay consistency.

Plastite enters the troops in the form of 1 kg briquettes wrapped in brown waxed paper.

Some types of plastic can be packaged in tubes or produced in the form of ribbons. Such plastites have a rubbery consistency. Some types of plastic have adhesive additives. This explosive has the ability to adhere to surfaces.

2. RDX- an explosive belonging to the group of explosives of increased power. Density 1.8 g / cc, melting point 202 degrees, flash point 215-230 degrees, impact sensitivity 10 kg. load 25 cm., explosive transformation energy 1290 kcal / kg, detonation speed 8380 m / sec., blasting rate 24 mm., explosiveness 490 cc

The normal state of aggregation is a fine crystalline substance of white color, tasteless and odorless. It does not dissolve in water, is non-hygroscopic, non-aggressive. It does not enter into a chemical reaction with metals. It is compressed badly. From the blow, the lumbago explodes with a bullet. Lights up willingly and burns with a bright white hissing flame. Combustion turns into detonation (explosion).

In its pure form, it is used only for equipping individual samples of detonator caps. It is not used for demolition work in its pure form. Used for industrial production of explosive mixtures. Typically, these mixtures are used to equip certain types of ammunition. For example, sea mines. For this purpose, pure RDX is mixed with paraffin, dyed orange with Sudan and pressed to a density of 1.66 g / cc. Aluminum powder is added to the mixture. All these works are carried out in an industrial environment on special equipment.

The name "hexogen" became popular in the mass media after the memorable acts of sabotage in Moscow and Volgodonsk, when several houses were blown up in a row.

Hexogen in its pure form is used extremely rarely, its use in this form is very dangerous for the explosives themselves; production requires a well-established industrial process.

3. TNT is an explosive of normal power.

Main characteristics:

1. Sensitivity: Not sensitive to shock, bullet, fire, spark, friction, chemical attack. Pressed and powdered TNT is highly sensitive to detonation and reliably explodes from standard blasting caps and fuses.

2. Energy of explosive transformation - 1010 kcal / kg.

3. Speed ​​of detonation: 6900 m / s.

4. Brisance: 19mm.

5. Explosiveness: 285 cc.

6. Chemical resistance: Does not react with solid materials (metal, wood, plastics, concrete, brick, etc.), does not dissolve in water, is not hygroscopic, does not change its explosive properties upon prolonged heating, wetting with water, and change state of aggregation (in molten form). Prolonged exposure to sunlight darkens and slightly increases its sensitivity. When exposed to an open flame, it ignites and burns with a yellow, highly smoky flame.

7. Duration and working conditions: Duration is not limited (TNT made in the early thirties works reliably). Long-term (60-70 years) stay in water, earth, ammunition casings does not change the explosive properties.

8. Normal state of aggregation: Solid. It is used in powdery, flaked and solid form.

9. Density: 1.66 g / cc.

Under normal conditions, TNT is a solid. It melts at a temperature of +81 degrees, and lights up at a temperature of +310 degrees.

TNT is a product of the action of a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids on toluene. The output is flaked TNT (separate small flakes). From flaked TNT, mechanical processing can be used to obtain powdery, pressed TNT by heating fused TNT.

TNT has found the widest application due to the simplicity and convenience of its machining (it is very easy to make charges of any weight, fill any cavities, cut, drill, etc.), high chemical resistance and inertness, and immunity to external influences. This means that it is very reliable and safe to use. At the same time, it has high explosive characteristics.

TNT is used both in pure form and in mixtures with other explosives, and TNT does not enter into chemical reactions with them. TNT in a mixture with RDX, tetryl, PETN reduces the sensitivity of the latter, and in a mixture with ammonium nitrate explosives TNT increases their explosive properties, increases chemical resistance and reduces hygroscopicity.

TNT in Russia is the main explosive for filling shells, missiles, mortar mines, aerial bombs, engineering mines and land mines. TNT is used as the main explosive during blasting operations in the ground, blasting metal, concrete, brick and other structures.

In Russia, TNT is supplied for blasting operations:

1.Scaled in 50kg kraft paper bags.

2.In pressed form in wooden boxes (checkers 75, 200, 400g.)

TNT sticks are produced in three standard sizes:

Large - measuring 10x5x5 cm and weighing 400g.

Small - measuring 10x5x2.5 cm and weighing 200g.

Drilling - 3 cm in diameter, 7 cm long. and weighing 75g.

All checkers are wrapped in waxed paper of red, yellow, gray or gray-green color. On the side there is an inscription "TNT stick".

Explosive charges of the required mass are made from large and small TNT sticks. The box with TNT bombs can also be used as an explosive charge weighing 25 kg. To do this, in the center of the top cover there is a fuse hole, closed by an easily removable plate. The checker under this hole is laid so that its ignition socket is just under the hole in the box lid. The boxes are painted green, equipped with wooden or rope handles for carrying. The boxes are marked accordingly.

The diameter of the rock drill is the same as that of a standard rock drill. These sticks are used for completing drilling charges in the destruction of rocks.

Trotyl is also supplied to the engineering troops in the form of ready-made charges in a metal shell with sockets for various types of fuses and fuses, and devices for quickly fixing the charge on a destructible object.

Explosives - improvised explosive device.

Perhaps there is not a single state in the world today that has not faced the problem of using improvised explosive devices. Well, improvised explosive devices (at one time they were aptly called infernal machines) have long been the favorite weapon of both international terrorists and half-crazy youths who imagine that they are fighting for the bright future of all progressive humanity. And many innocent people have been killed or wounded as a result of terrorist attacks.

Explosives are chemistry. Different components of explosives are mined by different chemical reactions and have different explosive strength and different stimuli for ignition, such as heat, shock or friction. Of course, you can build an increasing rating of explosives by weight of the charge. But you should know that simply doubling the weight does not mean doubling the explosive effect.

Chemical explosives are of two categories - low and high power (we are talking about the speed of ignition).

The most common explosives of reduced power are black powder (discovered in 1250), gun cotton and nitro cotton. Initially, they were used in artillery, for loading muskets and the like, since in this capacity they best reveal their characteristics. When ignited in a confined space, they release gases that create pressure, which actually causes an explosive effect.

Explosives of increased power differ from explosives of reduced power quite significantly. The first ones were used from the very beginning as detonating ones, because during detonation they disintegrated, creating supersonic waves, which, passing through the substance, destroyed its molecular structure and emitted super-hot gases. As a result, an explosion occurred incomparably stronger than when using explosives of reduced power. Another distinguishing feature of explosives of this type is safety in handling - a powerful detonator is required to cause them to explode.

But in order for an explosion to occur in the chain, you must first light a fire. You cannot immediately make a piece of coal burn. You need a chain, consisting of a simple sheet of paper, in order to first make a fire, where then you need to put firewood, which, in turn, can light the coal.

The same chain is needed to detonate explosives of increased power. The initiator will be an explosive cartridge or a detonator consisting of a small amount of an initiator. Sometimes detonators are made in two parts - with a more sensitive explosive and a catalyst. The explosives used in detonators are usually about the size of a pea. Detonators are of two types - flash and electric. Flash detonators work as a result of a chemical (a detonator consists of chemicals that ignite after detonation) or mechanical (a firing pin, as in a hand grenade or a pistol, hits the capsule, and then an explosion occurs).

The electric fuse is connected to the explosive with electrical wires. The electrical discharge heats up the connecting wires, and the detonator naturally goes off. Terrorists mainly use electric detonators for their explosive devices, while flash detonators are preferred by the military.

There are simple, sequential and parallel electrical circuits of terrorist explosive devices. Simple circuits consist of a charge of explosives, an electric detonator (most often of two, since terrorists usually hedge against the fear that one detonator may fail), a battery or other source of electricity, and a switch that prevents the device from detonating.

By the way, terrorists often die by closing the circuits of explosive devices with jewels (for example, with their rings, watches or something like that), and sequentially putting a second switch in the circuit as a fuse. If the likelihood is high that the bomb can be defused on the street, terrorists may well add another parallel switch. However, the electrical switches used in terrorist bomb circuits have an infinite number of variations and differences. After all, in the end, they depend on the imagination and technical capabilities of the master. And also on the goal. And this means that there is simply no point in checking and studying all the options in detail.