Chemical Compound Fuel or Oxygen Rich

The Pyro Valence procedure also provides a very easy way to calculate if a specific molecule or compound is fuel rich, oxygen rich, or stoichiometric. Consider, for example, the compound trinitrotoluene, better known as TNT, with a molecular 

The molecular nitramine explosive HMX (so dubbed for his Majesty s Explosive), with molecular formula C4HgNg08, has a positive valence total of +24 (4 C s and 8 H s) and a negative valence total of -16 (8 O s), for a net molecule valence of +8 (fuel rich). If carbon monoxide (CO) is the product from the carbons, however, we have valences of +16 and -16, for a molecule Pyro Valence of zero. Perhaps this has something to do with the high detonation velocity of HMX—over 9,000 metos/second. 

Ammonium perchlorate, NH4CIO4, is a good oxidizer, with a Pyro Valence of -5. A similar compound, methylammonium perchlorate, might be considered for use in energetic mixtures as well, and it might be assumed initially that methylammonium perchlorate (MAP) will also serve as an oxidizer. However, the replacement of a H atom by a CH3 group significantly alters the nature of the compound, as shown by the valence calculation below  

The calculation shows that the compound is actually now slightly fuel rich, and very close to stoichiometric. If you combined MAP with a fuel, hoping to get a violent reaction, you would probably be disappointed—MAP is already fuel rich with carbon dioxide as the product. 

A logical question to ask at this point is Are there any energetic compounds that are actually internally stoichiometric going to CO2 as the carbon product, or have a net valence of 0 What about ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN)—a material used in many dynamites for low-temperature applications EGDN has a molecular formula of C2H4N2O6. Its Pyro Valence will be 

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