Nitrocellulose

A brief consideration of specific explosives uniting may serve to illustrate this phase of the subject.

though the explosion of gunpowder is the result of a chemical change whereby carbonic acid gas at high tension is evolved due to the saltpetre and the charcoal the effect and rapidity of action are greatly promoted by the addition of sulphur on the contrary dynamite now so important and various similar explosives are but mixtures of nitro-glycerine with earthy substances in order to diminish and make more manageable the development of the rending force of the base the explosive power of any substance is the pressure it exerts on all parts of the space containing it at the instant of explosion and is measured by comparing the heat disengaged with the volume of gas emitted and with the rapidity of chemical action in the case of gunpowder the proper manipulation and division of the grains is important because favouring rapid deflagration but in a purely chemical explosion each separate molecule is an explosive and the reaction passes from the interior of one to the interior of another suddenly driving the atoms much further apart than their naturally infinitesimal vibrations Purely chemical explosives like nitroglycerin, gun cotton, the picrites, and the fulminates present a terrible danger from the unknown mode of the new union of atoms, and reaction of the particles within themselves in spontaneous explosions happening in irregular manner.

Some curious circumstances attend the manufacture and use of gun cotton, nitroglycerin, and dynamite.

Baron von Linck, in his System of the Artillery Use of Gun Cotton, diminishes the danger of sudden explosion by twisting the prepared cotton into cords or weaving it into cloth, thereby securing a more uniform density.

Mr. Abel's mode of making gun cotton, which explosive is now used more than any other by the British government, includes drying the damp prepared cotton upon hot plates, freely open to the air.

If ignited by a flame, however, in an unconfined space, gun cotton only burns with a strong blaze, but if confined where the temperature reaches 340 degrees Fahrenheit, it explodes with terrific violence.

Somewhat similar is the action of nitroglycerin and dynamite, which simply burn if ignited in the open air, while the same substance will explode through a very slight concussion or by the application of the electric spark.

A red-hot iron also, if applied, will explode them when a flame will not.

And did you use another one or you mentioned another one that wasn't classic lacquer?

Yes, nitrocellulose.

Nitrocellulose, that was it.

Oh, the

same, okay.

Though the explosion of gunpowder is the result of a chemical change whereby carbonic acid gas at high tension is evolved, due to the saltpetre and the charcoal the effect and rapidity of action are greatly promoted by the addition of sulphur on the contrary dynamite now so important and various similar explosives are but mixtures of nitro-glycerine with earthy substances in order to diminish and make more manageable the development of the rending force of the base the explosive power of any substance is the pressure it exerts on all parts of the space containing it at the instant of explosion and is measured by comparing the heat disengaged with the volume of gas emitted and with the rapidity of chemical action In the case of gunpowder, the proper manipulation and division of the grains is important, because favoring rapid deflagration, but in a purely chemical explosion, each separate molecule is an explosive, and the reaction passes from the interior of one to the interior of another, suddenly driving the atoms much further apart than their naturally infinitesimal vibrations.

Purely chemical explosives like nitroglycerin, gun cotton, the picrites, and the fulminates present a terrible danger from the unknown mode of the new union of atoms and reaction of the particles within themselves in spontaneous explosions happening in irregular manner.

Some curious circumstances attend the manufacture and use of gun cotton, nitroglycerin, and dynamite.

Baron von Linck, in his System of the Artillery Use of Gun Cotton, diminishes the danger of sudden explosion by twisting the prepared cotton into cords or weaving it into cloth, thereby securing a more uniform density.

Mr. Abel's mode of making gun cotton, which explosive is now used more than any other by the British government, includes drying the damp prepared cotton upon hot plates, freely open to the air.

If ignited by a flame, however, in an unconfined space, gun cotton only burns with a strong blaze, but if confined, where the temperature reaches 340 degrees Fahrenheit, it explodes with terrific violence.

Somewhat similar is the action of nitroglycerin and dynamite, which simply burn if ignited in the open air, while the same substance will explode through a very slight concussion or by the application of the electric spark.

A red-hot iron also, if applied, will explode them when a flame will not.

On the other hand, it has the disadvantage that the enemy is not so easily discovered as when the old form of powder is used.

The gun cotton molecule, like nitroglycerin, is a complicated one, consisting of a number of atoms each of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, and is so loosely held chemically that, like nitroglycerin, it can be exploded by concussion.

For a number of years after the discovery of gun cotton, it was not known that it could be exploded in this manner.

This latter discovery has brought it into great favor as an explosive for torpedo and mining work in military operations.

It will explode with as great force when floating in water as when perfectly dry.

The fact that it can be stored saturated with water precludes the possibility of danger from fire, as there was with the first preparations of gun cotton.

Like nitroglycerin, it is not necessary to confine it in order to render it explosive.

450 pounds tied up like a bale of cotton and sunk in the water to some distance and exploded will throw a cone of water with a base not less than 225 to 250 feet in diameter, 60 feet in the air.

And that only had the effect of spreading the fire to the other films, which immediately took fire.

Nitrocellulose was the film material, extremely flammable, almost explosive.

So Within seconds, the hall table was on fire, the floor was on fire.

One of the...