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Potassium nitrate can be made by combining ammonium nitrate and potassium hydroxide. NH 4 NO 3 + KOH → NH 3 + KNO 3 + H 2 O. An alternative way of producing potassium nitrate without a by-product of ammonia is to combine ammonium nitrate, found in instant ice packs, [30] and potassium chloride, easily obtained as a sodium-free salt substitute.
The particles need to be very small and fine so that they can be dispersed well throughout the solution. Some salts that are commonly used include: ammonium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium perchlorate and potassium chlorate. The sensitivity of the explosive must be increased in order to improve the initiation of the detonation of the explosive.
Today, industrial explosives for such uses are still a huge market, but most of the market is in newer explosives rather than black powder. Beginning in the 1930s, gunpowder or smokeless powder was used in rivet guns , stun guns for animals, cable splicers and other industrial construction tools. [ 143 ]
In the Philippines, where the practice has been well-documented, [2] blast fishing was known prior to World War I, as this activity is mentioned by Ernst Jünger in his book Storm of Steel. [3] One 1999 report estimated that some 70,000 fishermen (12% of the Philippines' total fishermen) engaged in the practice. [4]
Today's punks (wood splints covered with ground plant pith or dung and then saturated with nitrate) used for lighting consumer fireworks are a type of slow match. A black match is a type of fuse consisting of cotton string coated with a dried slurry of black powder and glue. This acts as a simple pass-fire, and was used to fire ancient cannons.
Minol-4: 40% TNT, 36% ammonium nitrate, 4% potassium nitrate and 20% powdered aluminium [2] [1]: M137 The addition of potassium nitrate minimized expansion of Minol, making it more stable to temperature changes than TNT, but didn't solve the expansion problem. Minol IV could still expand and develop cracks after prolonged thermal cycling. A new ...
In 2013, ammonium nitrate was the cause of an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, killing 15 people, injuring 200 and wiping out hundreds of homes. Federal officials later found the ...
Sprengel explosives are a generic class of materials invented by Hermann Sprengel in the 1870s. [1] They consist of stoichiometric mixtures of strong oxidisers and reactive fuels , mixed just prior to use in order to enhance safety.