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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 ]
Explosives being prepared for blast fishing. Commercial dynamite or, more commonly, homemade bombs constructed using a glass bottle with layers of powdered potassium nitrate and pebbles or an ammonium nitrate and kerosene mixture are often employed.
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.
A common chemical used for explosives was discovered by the FBI in a Texas storage locker linked to Bourbon Street terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who the agency has identified as the person who ...
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 composition, with 20% of potassium nitrate in solid solution, was developed.
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 ...