Decomposed > I was under the impression that ammonium nitrate wouldn't explode until it had been been mixed with oil.
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Why Does Ammonium Nitrate Explode?
http://www.acsh.org/news/2020/08/07/why-does-ammonium-nitrate-explode-14954
Aug 07, 2020
A gigantic amount of ammonium nitrate recently exploded in Beirut, killing hundreds, injuring thousands while causing catastrophic damage. Chemically, it's not at all surprising that ammonium nitrate can detonate. With that, here's the answer to the question people around the world – and especially in Lebanon – are asking themselves: Why does it explode?
It's no accident that ammonium nitrate is an explosive; it has much in common with other well-known explosive chemicals:
A large number of nitrogen and oxygen atoms and a small number of carbon atoms.
Functional groups containing atoms that can form stable gases, for example, nitrogen, oxygen, water, ammonia, often violently, when the explosive molecule decomposes. You can think of these gases as being "trapped" within the molecule.
Those trapped gases are none too happy about being crammed together in a little molecule. No sir, they want their freedom and it can take a very small nudge, physical or chemical, to grant them their wish. Let's take a look at some explosive chemicals. You should see a pattern.
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(Article does go on. With chemical diagrams of the pertinent ingredients. Zim.)
Mad Poet Strikes Again.
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