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AND SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT EXPLOSIVES
Author of "Defenseless America," "The Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language," etc.
NEW YORK HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO.
_All rights reserved, including that of translation into the foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_
To the actors in the comedies and tragedies of real life presented in these stories, without whose efforts and sacrifices the stories could not have been so interesting and true, this volume is with grateful acknowledgments most respectfully dedicated. As the parts played by the actors were not rehearsed, the performances have required a little retouching in the interest of the reader, the author having subordinated history to story rather than story to history.
HOW BENDER LOWERED THE PRICE OF DYNAMITE 39
THE SINGULAR GOOD FORTUNE OF A GENTLE ENGLISHMAN 92
INCIDENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOTORITE 139
An explosive material consists of a combustible and of an oxidizing agent for burning the combustible. Hence it contains within its own substance the necessary oxygen for its combustion, so that it will burn without atmospheric air and therefore in a confined space.
There are two main kinds of explosive materials--high explosives and gunpowder. There are also two main kinds of high explosives--dynamites and military high explosives. Lastly there are two main kinds of gunpowders--black, smoky gunpowder and smokeless gunpowder.
Dynamite is used mostly for commercial blasting purposes, such as blasting rock in the construction of railways, and so forth. Military high explosives are mostly employed for submarine mines, warheads for torpedoes, and as bursting charges for high explosive projectiles.
A high explosive is consumed almost instantly by what is called a detonative wave; hence it is said to detonate. When gunpowder explodes, it is not consumed by a detonative wave, but burns from the surface, and the more strongly it is confined, that is to say, the higher the pressure under which it is burned, the more rapid is its combustion. Although the action is rapid, it is yet much slower than is the action of detonation of high explosives.