A mine is an
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
placed underground or underwater that explodes when disturbed, or when remotely triggered. The term originated from the use of
mining to go under the enemy's city
walls.
Mines, unlike
bombs, are placed ''
in situ'' and then require some other stimulus from a target before they will detonate.
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Land mine, mines on land
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Anti-personnel mine, a land mine targeting people on foot
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Anti-tank mine
An anti-tank mine (abbreviated to "AT mine") is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive c ...
, a land mine against vehicles
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Naval mine or sea mine, a mine at sea, either floating or on the sea bed
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Captive torpedo, a sea mine which releases a torpedo on sensing a target
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Aerial mine or
parachute mine, an air-dropped sea mine falling gently under a parachute, used as a high-capacity cheaply cased large bomb against ground targets
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Cluster bomb
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
, an aerial bomb which releases a large number of small submunitions, which often act as mines.
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