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Total body disruption is the most severe and invariably fatal primary injury. [2] Primary injuries are especially likely when a person is close to an exploding munition, such as a land mine. [3] The ears are most often affected by the overpressure, followed by the lungs and the hollow organs of the gastrointestinal tract.
The main causes of death and disablement in this state are thermal burns and the failure of structures resulting from the blast effect. Injury from the pressure wave is minimal in contrast because the human body can survive up to 2 bar (30 psi) while most buildings can withstand only a 0.8 bar (12 psi) blast.
These waves mostly damage junctions between tissues of different densities (bone and muscle) or the interface between tissue and air. Lungs and the abdominal cavity, which contain air, are particularly injured. The damage causes severe hemorrhaging or air embolisms, either of which can be rapidly fatal. The overpressure estimated to damage ...
A 5 psi blast overpressure will rupture eardrums in about 1% of subjects, and a 45 psi overpressure will cause eardrum rupture in about 99% of all subjects. The threshold for lung damage occurs at about 15 psi blast overpressure. A 35-45 psi overpressure may cause 1% fatalities, and 55 to 65 psi overpressure may cause 99% fatalities. [3]
The generation of heat in large quantities accompanies most explosive chemical reactions. The exceptions are called entropic explosives and include organic peroxides such as acetone peroxide. [6] It is the rapid liberation of heat that causes the gaseous products of most explosive reactions to expand and generate high pressures. This rapid ...
Although tetryl is among the most toxic explosive compounds, it is very short-lived. This combined with the fact that the health impacts of this compound are largely unstudied, not much is known about any health problems that this compound may cause. Epidemiological data shows that tetryl has most effect on the skin, acting as a strong irritant ...
A contact explosive is a chemical substance that explodes violently when it is exposed to a relatively small amount of energy (e.g. friction, pressure, sound, light). Though different contact explosives have varying amounts of energy sensitivity , they are all much more sensitive relative to other kinds of explosives.
Exposure to radiation causes chemical changes in gases. The least susceptible to damage are noble gases, where the major concern is the nuclear transmutation with follow-up chemical reactions of the nuclear reaction products. High-intensity ionizing radiation in air can produce a visible ionized air glow of telltale bluish-purplish color.