Explosion
An
explosion is a sudden increase in
volume and release of
energy in a violent manner, usually with the generation of high
temperatures and the release of
gases. An explosion causes
pressure waves in the local medium in which it occurs. Explosions are categorized as
deflagrations if these waves are
subsonic and
detonations if they are
supersonic (
shock waves).
Most common artificial
explosives are
chemical explosives, usually involving a rapid and violent
oxidation reaction that produces large amounts of hot gas.
Gunpowder was the first explosive to be discovered and put to use. Other notable early developments in chemical explosive technology were
Frederick Augustus Abel's development of
nitrocellulose (guncotton) in
1865 and
Alfred Nobel's invention of
dynamite (stabilized
nitroglycerin). See the article on
explosive material for more detail on chemical explosives. A new order of explosive, the
nuclear bomb, was invented in
1945 by Allied scientists. In
1952, the US military developed the first
fusion bomb.
Boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions are a type of explosion that can occur when a vessel containing a pressurized liquid is ruptured, causing a rapid increase in volume as the liquid evaporates.
Explosions are common in nature. On Earth, most natural explosions arise from
volcanic processes of various sorts. Explosive volcanic eruptions occur when
magma rising from below has much dissolved gas in it; the reduction of
pressure as the magma rises causes the gas to bubble out of solution, resulting in a rapid increase in volume. Explosions also occur as a result of
Earth impacts. On other planets, vulcanism and impacts cause explosions with various frequency.
Solar flares are an example of explosion common on the
Sun, and presumably on most other
stars as well. The energy source for solar flare activity comes from the tangling of
magnetic field lines resulting from the rotation of the Sun's conductive
plasma.
Among the largest known explosions in the universe are
supernovae, which result from stars exploding, and
gamma ray bursts, whose nature is still in some dispute.
|
Explosive force exiting a cannon |
*
Chemical explosions
**
Texas City Disaster**
Halifax Explosion**
Battle of Messines**
Bombay Blasts**
Oppau explosion, Ludwigshafen, Germany**
Port Chicago Disaster**
1887 Nanaimo Mine Explosion**
PEPCON disaster,
Henderson,
Nevada**
Flixborough disaster**
Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal*
Nuclear weapons (
nuclear explosions)
**
Nuclear testing***
Trinity test***
Castle Bravo***
Tsar Bomba (most powerful nuclear weapon ever created)
**use in war
***
Hiroshima***
Nagasaki |
A weapons cache is detonated at the East River Range on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan |
*Steam
boiler explosions
*Exploding
volcanoes
**
Santorini**
Krakatoa**
Mount St. Helens**
Mount Tambora**
Mount Pinatubo**
Yellowstone Caldera*
Astronomic-scale events
**
The big bang (not an explosion in the technical sense; see
Talk:Explosion)
**
Tunguska event**
Gamma-ray bursts**
Supernovae**
Crab Nebula supernova
*
Exploding animals*
Explosive limit*
Implosion
