Another week has flown by, and as every Friday, the "Physics Bite" corner is back.
And this time — it turns out that even a cannon can be really cute 😀.
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Behind the explosion of an explosive material lies a fascinating chemical process. In this process, oxygen combines with particles of the explosive, converting the explosive from a solid state into a gas. The gas generates tremendous pressure inside the cannon barrel and propels the projectile outward.
There are two types of chemical reactions of this kind:
**Exothermic reaction** — a chemical reaction in which potential chemical energy is released into the surroundings in the form of light and heat.
This type of reaction can be observed in explosives. The rapid combination with oxygen releases a large amount of energy into the surroundings.
**Endothermic reaction** — a chemical reaction in which energy is absorbed from the surroundings to drive the reaction, rather than being released into them.
An interesting example is the evaporation of boiling water — the steam consumes a large amount of energy in order to convert into gas, and in doing so actually cools the water remaining in the pot.
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An additional interesting point is that explosives do not release a particularly large amount of energy in relative terms. Fuels such as petroleum, for example, release far more energy during combustion.
What makes explosives unique is that their energy release is concentrated into a single moment. Instead of a slow, prolonged burn, the process occurs extremely rapidly and produces an explosion.
video credit: crazy earth
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