Nitramex and Nitramon Explosives are compositions of various

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

s. They are

explosives 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 exp ...

based on

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, but does not form hydrates. It is predominantly us ...

, with other ingredients such as

paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and melting poi ...

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

and

dinitrotoluene Dinitrotoluenes could refer to one of the following compounds: * 2,3-Dinitrotoluene * 2,4-Dinitrotoluene 2,4-Dinitrotoluene (DNT) or dinitro is an organic compound with the formula C7H6N2O4. This pale yellow crystalline solid is well known as a ...

. The inclusion of these additional ingredients creates a more stable explosive. Nitramex and Nitramon have in modern times been replaced by more advanced high explosives based on ammonium nitrate, such as

ANFO ANFO ( ) (or AN/FO, for ammonium nitrate/fuel oil) is a widely used bulk industrial high explosive. It consists of 94% porous prilled ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) (AN), which acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel, and 6% number ...

Nitramon

A typical nitramon formula contains approximately 92 percent ammonium nitrate, 4 percent

and 4 percent paraffin wax. Nitramon is insensitive to shock, friction, flame and impact. It can't be detonated by

blasting cap A detonator is a device used to make an explosive or explosive device explode. Detonators come in a variety of types, depending on how they are initiated (chemically, mechanically, or electrically) and details of their inner working, which of ...

and requires

booster Booster may refer to: Amusement rides * Booster (Fabbri ride), a pendulum ride * Booster (HUSS ride), an evolution of the Breakdance ride * Booster (KMG ride), a pendulum ride Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Booster, a cha ...

to set it off. Different grades of Nitramon were produced, including S and WW for

seismic exploration Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflection (physics), reflected seismic waves. The method requir ...

and HH for blasting in high temperature environments, like

coal-seam fire A coal-seam fire is a burning of an outcrop or underground coal seam. Most coal-seam fires exhibit smouldering combustion, particularly underground coal-seam fires, because of limited atmospheric oxygen availability. Coal-seam fire instances ...

Nitramex

Nitramex has much the same formula as nitramon but with the addition of

trinitrotoluene Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and help ...

(TNT). It has higher density and explosive strength than Nitramon. Nitramex was developed for blasting hard rock. This explosive was used in the removal of

Ripple Rock Ripple Rock () is an underwater mountain located in the Seymour Narrows of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia, Canada. It had two peaks (2.74 metres and 6.4 metres below the surface at low tide) that produced large, dangerous eddies from ...

. Large quantities of Nitramex 2H (over a thousand tonnes) were packed into tunnels. The explosion, in 1958, was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nitramex And Nitramon Explosives Explosive chemicals