StNicholas [serial] . st in the mass of guncotton. Evennitroglycerin will burn like oil in small quantities,and a stick of nitrogelatin may be set on firewithout danger of harm. Most persons unfamiliar with the properties of mine is the only ticklish part about the mechan-ism. Fulminate of mercury usually is used forthis purpose, and it is made by dissolving mer-cury in nitric acid, to which solution, when cool,alcohol is added. Fulminate of mercury has apeculiar chemical make-up that adapts it to thispurpose. It has been estimated that fulminate ofmercury, when exploded in contact with a body
StNicholas [serial] . st in the mass of guncotton. Evennitroglycerin will burn like oil in small quantities,and a stick of nitrogelatin may be set on firewithout danger of harm. Most persons unfamiliar with the properties of mine is the only ticklish part about the mechan-ism. Fulminate of mercury usually is used forthis purpose, and it is made by dissolving mer-cury in nitric acid, to which solution, when cool,alcohol is added. Fulminate of mercury has apeculiar chemical make-up that adapts it to thispurpose. It has been estimated that fulminate ofmercury, when exploded in contact with a body,exerts a pressure of more than half a millionpounds to the square inch. In other words, thefulminate used as a fuse strikes the high explosivea blow with a force of half a million pounds tothe square inch. The explosive wave thus set upis too strong to be resisted by the chemical bondsof the body, and they are loudly broken apart. Probably the most powerful high explosivecompound in use is that which has been adopted. A NEAR VIEW OF HUGE UNDER-THE-WATER EXPLOSIONCourtesy of The Technical World Magazine. explosives suppose that shells and submarinemines are dangerous in themselves and that tohandle any of them would be courting death. Asa matter of fact, however, the fulminating, orsetting off body which is required to be at-tached to the high explosive in the shell or the by the United States government as a burstingcharge for shells. This explosive is about fiftyper cent, more powerful than ordinary dynamiteand somewhat more powerful than pure nitro-glycerin. Notwithstanding its high explosiveproperty, however, it is but little affected by 462 NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS [Mar., shock and will not explode from fire even ifa mass of it be stirred with a red-hot in an open vessel it will evaporate likewater, and shells for cannon are filled with it bythe simple process of melting and pouring. Thisexplosive, like the high explosives in use in Euro-pean armies a
Size: 1828px × 1367px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
