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Ammonium Nitrate can make a big boom but I don't think that all boomable chemicals are being made from the same ingredients.
by eimrine 5y ago
Ammonium Nitrate can make a big boom but I don't think that all boomable chemicals are being made from the same ingredients.
- lil_dispaches 5y agoAFAIK, without going nuclear, the biggest booms come from organic chemistry.
- PaulHoule 5y agoAlmost all explosives except for this stuff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_peroxide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_peroxide contain nitrogen. (TATP is not used as a military explosive because it will blow up if you look at it the wrong way.) In a lot of cases that is going to come from nitric acid which in turn is made from ammonia which could otherwise be used to make fertilizer. As you point out, Ammonium Nitrate is a powerful explosive which is commonly used in mining, road construction and other peaceful purposes. Ammonium Nitrate is also popular among terrorists because it is easy to get and highly effective in the form of a truck bomb. Up until WWII Ammonium Nitrate was mixed with TNT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatol but AN hasn't been used as a military explosive for a long time since now they mix TNT with RDX, Aluminum powder, and other things.
- h2odragon 5y agoWhat's the ratio of "nitrates input" for fertilizer vs explosives? A ton of ammonia is fertilizer all by itself but processed might only be 100kg of TNT (totally ignoring all the other inputs).