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Encyclopedia > Explosions
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Gasoline explosions, simulating bomb drops at an airshow.

An explosion is a sudden increase in volume and release of energy in a violent manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion causes pressure waves in the local medium in which it occurs. Explosions are categorized as deflagrations if these waves are subsonic and detonations if they are supersonic (shock waves). Petrol (gasoline in the United States and Canada) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... Energy is a fundamental quantity that every physical system possesses; it allows us to predict how much work the system could be made to do, or how much heat it can exchange. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ... Gas (actually as, part of the Gnu Binutils package) is the default Gcc Back-end. ... A pressure wave in a fluid is a travelling disturbance consisting in a local change of pressure (hence the name). ... Deflagration is a process of subsonic combustion that usually propagates through thermoconductivity (hot burning material heats next layer of cold material and ignites it). ... Subsonic has two possible meanings: A speed lower than the speed of sound is called subsonic. ... A weapons cache is detonated at the East River Range on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan Detonation is a process of supersonic combustion that involves a shock wave and a reaction zone behind it. ... Any speed over the speed of sound, which is approximately 343 m/s or 761 mph or 1,225 km/h at sea level, is said to be supersonic. ... For the vector animation platform, see Macromedia Shockwave. ...


Most common artificial explosives are chemical explosives, usually involving a rapid and violent oxidation reaction that produces large amounts of hot gas. Gunpowder was the first explosive to be discovered and put to use. Other notable early developments in chemical explosive technology were Abel's invention of nitrocellulose (guncotton) in 1865 and Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite (stabilized nitroglycerin). See the article on explosive material for more detail on chemical explosives. A new order of explosive, the nuclear bomb, was invented in 1945 by the United States military. In 1950, the US military developed the first fusion bomb. Boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions are a type of explosion that can occur when a vessel containing a pressurized liquid is ruptured, causing a rapid increase in volume as the liquid evaporates. A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry: A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions. ... The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ... Gunpowder is a substance which burns very rapidly and is used as a propellant in firearms. ... Nitrocellulose (Cellulose nitrate, guncotton) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose (e. ... 1865 is a common year starting on Sunday. ... Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel  listen? ( October 21, 1833, Stockholm, Sweden – December 10, 1896, San Remo, Italy). ... Dynamite is an explosive based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin using Kieselguhr as an absorbent. ... Nitroglycerin (also nitroglycerine, trinitroglycerin, or glyceryl trinitrate) is a chemical compound, a heavy, colorless, poisonous, oily, explosive liquid obtained by nitrating glycerol. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... Events January January 5 - US Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the USA January 6 - The United Kingdom recognizes the Peoples Republic of China. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... BLEVE, pronounced blevy, is an acronym for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. ...


Explosions are common in nature. On Earth, most natural explosions arise from volcanic processes of various sorts. Explosive volcanic eruptions occur when magma rising from below has much dissolved gas in it; the reduction of pressure as the magma rises causes the gas to bubble out of solution, resulting in a rapid increase in volume. Explosions also occur as a result of Earth impacts. On other planets, vulcanism and impacts cause explosions with various frequency. This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... This article is about the type of rock. ... Pressure (symbol: p or P) is the measure of the force that acts on a unit area. ... Artists impression of a major impact event. ...

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An exploding firework

Solar flares are an example of explosion common on the Sun, and presumably on most other stars as well. The energy source for solar flare activity comes from the tangling of magnetic field lines resulting from the rotation of the Sun's conductive plasma. This article is about the explosive device. ... A solar flare is a violent explosion in the Suns atmosphere with an energy equivalent to tens of millions of hydrogen bombs. ... The Sun (occasionally referred to as Sol) is the star at the centre of our solar system. ... For alternate meanings see star (disambiguation) Hundreds of stars are visible in this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the Sagittarius Star Cloud in the Milky Way Galaxy. ... In physics, a magnetic field is an entity produced by moving electric charges (electric currents) that exerts a force on other moving charges. ... The word plasma has a Greek root which means to be formed or molded (the word plastic shares this root). ...


Among the largest known explosions in the universe are supernovae, which result from stars exploding, and gamma ray bursts, whose nature is still in some dispute. Remnant of Keplers Supernova, SN 1604. ... Optical afterglow of gamma ray burst GRB-990123 (the bright dot within the white square and in the enlarged cutout) on 23 January 1999. ...


Famous explosions

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A weapons cache is detonated at the East River Range on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan

This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... The Halifax Explosion occurred on December 6, 1917, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ... The Bombay Explosion (or Bombay Docks Explosion) occurred on April 14, 1944 in the Victoria Dock of Bombay (now Mumbai) when a ship carrying a mixed cargo including around 1,400 tons of explosive caught fire and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking surrounding ships and killing... Damage at the Port Chicago Pier after the July 17, 1944 explosion The Port Chicago disaster occurred on July 17, 1944, when the cargo hold of the exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California. ... The 1887 Nanaimo Mine Explosion on 3 May 1887 in Nanaimo, BC killed 150 miners and was the largest man-made explosion in the world until the Halifax Explosion. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... A nuclear explosion (nuclear detonation) has occurred: twice using a nuclear weapon during war (during World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) many times testing a nuclear weapon a series of tests of nuclear explosives for construction purposes; see Operation Plowshare Potential other applications (not yet applied... A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... An early stage in the Trinity fireball. ... Castle Bravo was the first test of a Teller_Ulam configuration thermonuclear dry fuel hydrogen bomb, detonated at the Bikini Atoll on February 28, 1954. ... Tsar Bomba (Russian: Царь-бомба) was the largest nuclear explosive device in history. ... Main keep of Hiroshima Castle The city of Hiroshima (広島市; -shi) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chugoku region of western Japan. ... Megane-bashi, the Eyeglasses Bridge Nagasaki (長崎市; -shi) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture located at the south-western coast of Kyushu, Japan. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... View from the top of Thira Santorini is a small, circular group of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea, 75 km south-east of the Greek mainland, (latitude: 35. ... An early 19th century image of Krakatoa. ... Mount Tamborais a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, nearly in a right line to the eastward of Java. ... Mount Pinatubo is an active volcano located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. ... The Yellowstone Caldera, also known as the Yellowstone supervolcano, is a highly geologically active region in Yellowstone National Park. ... Astronomy, which etymologically means law of the stars, (from Greek: αστρονομία = άστρον + νόμος) is a science involving the observation and explanation of events occurring outside Earth and its atmosphere. ... The Tunguska event was an aerial explosion that occurred at 60° 55’ North, 101° 57’ East, near the Podkamennaya (Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Evenkia, Siberia, at 7:17 AM on June 30, 1908. ... Hubble Space Telescope image taken on May 17, 1994. ... Messier Object 1, the Crab Nebula. ... Dynamite was used to explode a rotting beached whale, with unexpected consequences. ...

See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
APOD: 2005 September 10 - Supernova Survivor (205 words)
Though the supernova itself is no longer visible, light-echoes from dust in the region can still be seen near the companion, the first known survivor of a supernova in a binary star system.
Astronomers believe that a substantial transfer of material to the surviving companion star during the last few hundred years before the stellar explosion can explain peculiarities seen in this supernova.
After supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
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