Nitrogen-based explosives

Chemical reactions with nitrogen-based chemicals, including the firing of explosives. 

The plant employed 119 people in three shifts, but only 30 were there when the explosion occurred. Terra s plant produced about 12% of the U.S. nitrogen-based liquid solution fertilizer. About one half of the plant was totally destroyed, the other half of the plant was damaged. The explosion was heard 50 to 60 miles away and shook Sioux City. 

Heating a mixture of an ammonium salt with a nitrite salt causes a violent explosion on melting [1], owing to formation and decomposition of ammonium nitrite. Salts of other nitrogenous bases behave similarly. Mixtures of ammonium chloride and sodium nitrite are used as commercial explosives [2], Accidental contact of traces of ammonium nitrate with sodium nitrite residues caused wooden decking on a truck to ignite [3],... 

R Based on sodium hypochlorite solution MSDS. Generates heat and toxic vapors can form explosive nitrogen trichloride under certain conditions... 

Nitrates, produced from ammonia or urea, include a variety of nitrogen-based compounds used to make fertilizers, pesticides, and explosives, and they are highly... 

Many other perchlorate salts of nitrogenous bases have been involved in explosive incidents, individually indexed compounds being ... 

Many of the salts of nitrogenous bases (particularly of high nitrogen content) with oxoacids are imstable or explosive. There are separate group entries for AMINIUM lODATES AND PERIODATES, AMINIUM PERCHLORATES DIAZONIUM PERCHLORATES, DICHROMATE SALTS OE NITROGENOUS BASES I-(I,3-DISELENONYLIDENE)PIPERIDINIUM PERCHLORATES HYDRAZINIUM SALTS, HYDROXYLAMINIUM SALTS... 

Pure sodium and potassium chlorates do not possess explosive properties, but in earlier times were important components of the most widely used explosive mixtures (Vol. III). Also some complex salts of chloric acid possess initiating properties (Vol. III). Chlorates of nitrogen bases are explosives and deserve some attention. In particular, ammonium chlorate should be mentioned owing to the part it has played in the history of explosives. 

The nitroamines are substituted ammonias, substances in which a nitro group is attached directly to a trivalent nitrogen atom. They are prepared in general either by the nitration of a nitrogen base or of one of its salts, or they are prepared by the splitting off of water from the nitrate of the base by the action of concentrated sulfuric acid upon it. At present two nitroamines are of particular interest to the explosives worker, namely, nitro-guanidine and cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (cyclonite). Both are produced from synthetic materials which have become available in large commercial quantities only since the first World War, the first from cyanamide, the second from formaldehyde from the oxidation of synthetic methyl alcohol. 

E.I. duPont deNemours and Company Slurry Explosive Composition Containing Nitrogen-Base Salt and TNT, Smokeless Powder or Composition B... 

E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company Fatty Alcohol Sulfate Modified Water-Bearing Explosives Containing Nitrogen-Base Salt... 

W.M. Lyerly Water-Bearing Explosives Containing Nitrogen-Base Salts , USP 3431155 (1969) C A 70,116788 (1970) 6) W.M. 

A cone, solution caused a slight explosion when poured onto a cold iron plate. See Other CHLORITE SALTS, OXOSALTS OF NITROGENOUS BASES... 

An explosive which appreciably exceeds the power and brisance of TNT. See Other PERCHLORATE SALTS OF NITROGENOUS BASES... 

It is known that preparation of the oxidant salt under anhydrous conditions is explosion-prone [1], but during repetition of a supposedly safe preparative method [2], recommended for large-scale use [3], ignition and a violent explosion occurred. Use of more water to dissolve completely the chromium trioxide, and a reaction temperature below 25°C, are recommended [4], During a study by TGA of the thermal degradation of the salt, too-rapid heating of the samples led to explosions with fire [5]. See other DICHROMATE SALTS OF NITROGENOUS BASES, OXIDANTS... 

Nitrogenous bases Kirk-Othmer, 1963, Vol. 2, 105 Primary aliphatic or aromatic amines react with calcium (or sodium) hypochlorite to form A -mono- or di-chloroamines which are explosively unstable, but less so than nitrogen trichloride. 

Australia currently produces approximately 200 000 tonnes of nitric acid (100% basis) per year (Ref. MD5). It is a cyclical market that responds directly to the performance of the agricultural and mining sectors. This occurs because Australian nitric acid is used almost exclusively for the production of ammonium nitrate (a nitrogen-based fertilizer and a mining explosive). The nitric acid industry has grown from a production capacity of 32 000 tonnes in 1967 (Ref. MD1 ). During the last decade, large deviations in production levels have occurred (Refe. MD3, MD4, and MD5). The overall trend has been for a 3% increase each year. 

This process (called the Haber process) is of great commercial value because ammonia is an important fertilizer for the growth of corn and other crops. Ironically, this beneficial process was discovered in Germany just before World War I in a search for ways to produce nitrogen-based explosives. In the course of this work, German chemist Fritz Haber (1868-1934) pioneered the large-scale production of ammonia. 

The importance of the thermodynamic stability of N2 can be clearly seen in the power of nitrogen-based explosives, such as nitroglycerin (C3H5N309), which has the following structure ... 

Nitric acid is an important industrial chemical (approximately 8 million tons produced annually) used in the manufacture of many products, such as nitrogen-based explosives and ammonium nitrate for use as a fertilizer. 

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