detonation

…industry is the production of detonating agents, or such priming compositions as lead azide [Pb(N₃)₂], silver azide (AgN₃), and mercury fulminate [Hg(ONC)₂]. These are not nitrates or nitro compounds, although some other detonators are, but they all contain nitrogen, and nitric acid is involved in their manufacture.

The progressive acceleration of reaction accounted for by the flame front area advancing at a supersonic velocity and by transition from laminar to turbulent flow gives rise to a shock wave. The increase in temperature due to compression in the shock wave results in…

…is used by itself in detonators, blasting caps, and a detonating fuse known as Primacord, which is used to propagate a series of detonations from one explosive charge to another. A mixture of roughly equal amounts of PETN and trinitrotoluene (TNT) creates a military high explosive called pentolite, which is…