HIGH EXPLOSIVES in 



The technique of explosion, which started with the employ- 

 ment of dynamite, is based, theoretically, on bringing 

 together the explosive groupings discussed above, not, how- 

 ever, by mixture, but by the much more intimate process 

 of chemical combination ; in other words the nitro group 

 which, in black powder present in the nitre, is mixed with 

 carbon, in dynamite and similar bodies is more or less 

 loosely combined with carbon. 



In inorganic chemistry instances of a similar kind are 

 found in the ammonia salts that readily give off oxygen, 

 such as the perchlorates. These have no practical applica- 

 tion, just because on account of their facility of reaction, 

 explosive inorganic compounds are unsafe to handle. But 

 in organic compounds the inertia of the carbon combina- 

 tion allows of the accumulation of a very great amount of 

 latent energy with relatively little danger. 



In the first place then come the nitrates, or so-called 

 nitro bodies which contain the group 



once or more, as in dynamite, which is fine sand mixed with 

 nitroglycerine 



H 2 C (ONO 2 ) CH (ON0 2 ) CH 2 (ONO 2 ), 



in gun cotton which contains a longer carbon chain 

 C ]2 H 14 (NO 3 ) 6 O 4 , in blasting gelatine, a solution of gun 

 cotton in nitroglycerine, and in the other so-called smoke- 

 less powders. 



The cause of explosiveness is obvious ; carbon and 

 hydrogen are presented to the oxygen, already in a 

 strained position on account of its combination with 

 nitrogen. The combination will therefore be most effective 

 if the carbon and hydrogen are just sufficient to combine 

 with the oxygen. Nitrates of monatomic alcohols contain 

 an excess of hydrogen 



H 3 CON0 2 = C0 2 + H 2 + H. 



