Detonate in the context of "Fuze"

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⭐ Core Definition: Detonate

Detonation (from Latin detonare 'to thunder down/forth') is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with speeds about 1 km/sec and differ from deflagrations which have subsonic flame speeds about 1 m/sec. Detonation may form from an explosion of fuel-oxidizer mixture. Compared with deflagration, detonation doesn't need to have an external oxidizer. Oxidizers and fuel mix when deflagration occurs. Detonation is more destructive than deflagration. In detonation, the flame front travels through the air-fuel faster than sound; while in deflagration, the flame front travels through the air-fuel slower than sound.

Detonations occur in both conventional solid and liquid explosives, as well as in reactive gases. TNT, dynamite, and C4 are examples of high power explosives that detonate. The velocity of detonation in solid and liquid explosives is much higher than that in gaseous ones, which allows the wave system to be observed with greater detail (higher resolution).

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👉 Detonate in the context of Fuze

In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates its function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze designs can be seen in cutaway diagrams.

A fuze is a device that detonates a munition's explosive material under specified conditions. In addition, a fuze will have safety and arming mechanisms that protect users from premature or accidental detonation. For example, an artillery fuze's battery is activated by the high acceleration of cannon launch, and the fuze must be spinning rapidly before it will function. "Complete bore safety" can be achieved with mechanical shutters that isolate the detonator from the main charge until the shell is fired.

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Detonate in the context of Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building pipelines, tunnels, and roads.

Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate, low ignition temperature and consequently low brisance (breaking/shattering). Low explosives deflagrate—burning at subsonic speeds—whereas high explosives detonate, producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates enough pressure to force the shot from the muzzle at high speed, but usually not enough force to rupture the gun barrel. It thus makes a good propellant but is less suitable for shattering rock or fortifications with its low-yield explosive power. Nonetheless, it was widely used to fill fused artillery shells (and used in mining and civil engineering projects) until the second half of the 19th century, when the first high explosives were put into use.

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Detonate in the context of Fragmentation (weaponry)

Fragmentation is the process by which the casing, shot, or other components of an anti-personnel weapon, bomb, barrel bomb, land mine, IED, artillery, mortar, tank gun, autocannon shell, rocket, missile, grenade, etc. are dispersed and/or shattered by the detonation of the explosive filler.

The correct term for those pieces is "fragments” (nicknamed “splinters” or “shards”). Preformed fragments can be of various shapes (spheres, cubes, rods, etc.) and sizes and are normally held rigidly within some form of matrix or body until the high explosive (HE) filling is detonated. The resulting high-velocity fragments produced by either method are the main lethal mechanisms of these weapons, rather than the heat or overpressure caused by detonation, although offensive grenades are often constructed without a frag matrix.

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Detonate in the context of FFV 028 mine

The FFV 028 is a series of steel cased Swedish anti-tank mines that use electronic fuzes. The mines are circular, with a large Misznay Schardin effect warhead in the center of the mine, with the fuzing and sensor electronics located in the dead space above the main charge. The design of the mine dates from the 1970s and uses a magnetic influence sensor to detonate the mine, making it able to attack the full width of armoured vehicles.

The mine can be laid either by hand or by a mechanical mine laying system. Once the mine is emplaced, a pre-set arming delay of up to 60 minutes is initiated, after which the magnetic sensor activates and will trigger the mine if a target passes overhead. When the mine is triggered, a small clearing charge blows away any material that may have been on top of the mine, followed a fraction of a second later by detonation of the main explosive charge. The main charge creates an explosively formed penetrator which is capable of penetrating the belly armour of any tank currently in existence, and generates substantial secondary blast and fragmentation effects. The mine is blast resistant and has been upgraded to be resistant to advanced demining countermeasures.

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