The article will discuss what an explosive device is, why it is needed, as it appeared, varieties and applications.
A bit of history
When the gunpowder was invented, it is not known for certain that there are a lot of versions and assumptions. However, the first surviving manuscript in which there is mention of this explosive dates back to 1044 A.D. Initially, gunpowder was used as a filling for fireworks and other entertainment tricks. But at the beginning of the XII century, they found application in cannons, and a little later an explosive device appeared. True, in modern military schools it is gunpowder that is rarely used; it was replaced by more powerful substances.
According to the dictionary, this is a material and technical scheme, which contains a chemical explosive and means of its detonation. For obvious reasons, it is a one-time action. But what happens, what is it for, and how is an explosive device made?
Army
First of all, the army needs WU. Such devices are needed mainly for the destruction of the enemy, equipment, buildings and sabotage.
In the armed forces, TNT is used as the main material for explosive devices. Distinctive features of this substance: high power, ease of handling and, most importantly, stability. It can be dropped, beaten, even thrown into the fire, it will simply burn without any danger to others. It explodes only from detonation, in other words, from another small explosion. An explosive device based on it usually looks like a trinitrotoluene block with an inserted fuse.
An interesting fact: during the Second World War, Soviet partisans, who experienced an acute shortage of material for mines, collected unexploded ordnance and smelted TNT, which became liquid from uniform and gradual heating in a water bath.
Ministry of Emergencies
Another area where explosives and explosive devices are used is the Ministry of Emergencies. Basically, they are needed to provoke avalanches (to defuse snow mass in advance), to clear rubble after natural disasters or to utilize the ammunition found in the ground. From old age, the latter can detonate from any impact, and sometimes they have to be destroyed on the spot.
An interesting fact: sometimes the wells of an oil or gas field light up, and the flame, constantly fueled by a "fountain" from the bowels of the earth, is so strong that it is impossible to extinguish it with usual means. Then a bomb is planted next to him, which blows the fire down with a blast wave. And once such a "torch" burned for three years, and only a nuclear HE was able to extinguish it. It happened in 1963 in Uzbekistan.
Construction and demolition of buildings
Some old buildings or structures are much more profitable, faster and easier to destroy by explosion than to spend time on the gradual dismantling. In this case, the energy of explosions comes to the rescue again.
Dynamite (explosive based on nitroglycerin) was also used at the end of the 19th century in the construction of railways and canals. They destroyed large stones and other obstacles. Currently, this method is also used.
Improvised explosive device
The need for such a makeshift device may be needed in different situations, for example, during hostilities. But still it is worth remembering: their manufacture is punishable by law. If you made a simple powder firecracker and decided to blow up entertainment for the sake of it, you have already broken the law. The only explosive that can be acquired legally is smoky and smokeless gunpowder, but only with a license for hunting weapons.
If their circulation is prohibited, then why do they use improvised explosive devices? The device so often becomes the murder weapon of various terrorists and intruders. The thing is that artisanal VU contain basically the usual nitrate, which is freely available. For obvious reasons, exact instructions and ratios will not be given here. Also, saltpeter is the main one for industrial explosives called ammonal.
Art
No modern action movie of the genre today is complete without chases, shootings and explosions. To create the latter, various pyrotechnic products are also used, also containing weaker explosives. Indeed, such an “ammunition”, an explosive device only simulates an explosion, does not harm others.