Low explosive/Related Articles

Low explosive: An explosive with a detonation velocity less than 3300 feet per second; characteristic of black and smokeless gunpowder used as a propellant, and some blasting explosives primarily used to move earth ^[e]

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Parent topics

• Explosives [r]: Explosive agent; a compound or mixture susceptible of a rapid chemical reaction, as gunpowder, or nitroglycerin. ^[e]
• Gunpowder [r]: Generically, a low explosive used as a propellant, now smokeless powder; the older black powder was used as a warhead filler before the invention of high explosives; also used in pyrotechnics ^[e]

Subtopics

• Single-base propellant [r]: Used in cannons, small arms, and grenades, these are based on nitrocellulose as the explosive component, with stabilizers, plasticizers, and possibly organic nitrates (e.g., potassium nitrate or ammonium nitrate) ^[e]
• Double-base propellant [r]: A form of smokeless gunpowder with the primary constituents being nitrocellulose and a plasticizer, such as nitroglycerin or BTN (explosive) ^[e]
• Triple-base propellant [r]: Smokeless powder, used in artillery, made from nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin or another explosive plasticizer, and nitroguanidine; it burns with equivalent energy, but at a lower temperature than other propellants, thus reducing barrel wear, and has much less muzzle flash ^[e]
• Potassium nitrate [r]: KNO₃, an oxidizing agent, the major constituent of black gunpowder and a food preservative known as saltpeter ^[e]
• Charcoal (material) [r]: An ingredient made from the destructive heating and blackening of wood, without burning and oxidation ^[e]
• Sulfur [r]: A yellowish crystalline chemical element with the symbol S and the atomic number of 16. ^[e]