The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-19
AN EXPLANATION OF
 HIGH EXPLOSIVES
(Toronto Mail and Empire.)

(Toronto Mail and Empire.)
 As explained by an expert in the London Daily Mail. the characteris.
 tic of high explosives is the extreme violence and suddenness of their de- tonatior Water is an explosive when it is heated and when it becomes steam, but the expansion is so slow that explosive results do not usually
 follow unless there is gross neg1i- gence. Gunpowder of the old type expands more rapidly than water and produces a large volume of gas but, again, it acts with comparative ge1ltleness. High explosives, on the
 other hand, pass instantly from a solid or liquid form to gas and act with terrific energy, tearing to pieces any vessel which contains them. Tt
 make them actin this manner they usually require a detonator, Whieh sapp1ies a violent shock to them and starts the explosion. It is a curious fact that most of the high explosives when lighted with a match burn quite quietly. The experiment. is not to be recommended, as accidents will hap pen, but in, 99 cases out of 10 there is no danger. Almost without ex- ception high explosives are compos- ed of some organic substance, which
 means some form of carbon treated with nitric acid. Without nitrogen, which is the chief Ingredient of nitric acid. it might be said that there can be no explosives. Yet by paradox nitrogen is one of the most inert gases known and the chief ingredient of the air we breathe Possibly it's explosive value arises from this very inertnesss 1t combines so exceedingly reluctantly that on small provocation the compound breaks up into gas. giving the enormous expansion need ed for explosive effect.
 The most famous modern high ex- p1ostve and one of the most powerful is lyddite. which is very similar to the French melinte and the Japanese
 shimose- Lyddite is simply picrtc acid melted with "a little vase1ine. Picrie acid is a yellow, crystalline substance largely used as a. yellow dye and also very serviceabIe in ned- icine for the treatment of burns. If is intensely poisonous and a power ful explosive. Attention to it's value as an explosive was first drawn in England by the destruction of Lam canstire factory where it was being manufactured. About the same date it was Independently. studied in. France, and early in the 9ois of the last century it was adopted there for use in shells. Picric acid is prepar- ed from coal ,tar-the refuse Of gas manufacture. When the heavy oil of coal tar is boiled and chemically treated phenol oricarbolic acid is care arates from 1t. The carboIic acid is taken, boiled in strong suIphuric acid, and into the eYil-smeIling Ifouid strong and pure nitric acid is care fully poured. The resultant is pie ric acid. It has great virtues as an exp1osiye1 but also some vices. It's virtues are that it is not easily ex-s ploded when pure and dry that it can be dropped or even thrown about and it does not act violently when lighted. To make it explode it needs powerful detonator. which usually contains illuminate of mercury and tetryl. Its chief fault is that it is intensely acid and when moisture is present attacks lead and many other substances, forming exceedingly ex- pIosive compounds which go off quite unexpectedly.