2013/07/17 by Oleg Meshcheryakov, Meshcheryakov, Oleg
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Combustion and Detonation Processes #Combustion and flame dynamics #Electrohydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics #FOS: Physical sciences #General Physics (physics.gen-ph) #physics.gen-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1402.3214
4 pages, 1 figure, NSTI-Nanotech 2013 Conference, http://www.nsti.org, ISBN 978-1-4822-0584-8 Vol. 2, 2013, pp.619-622
arxiv created 2013/07/17 · openalex publication_date 2013/07/17 · arxiv updated 2014/02/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Even a single excess electron or ion migrating on the surface of sensitive explosives can catalyze their gradual exothermic decomposition. Mechanisms underlying such a charge-induced gradual thermal decomposition of highly sensitive explosives can be different. If sensitive explosive is a polar liquid, intense charge-dipole attraction between excess surface charges and surrounding explosive molecules can result in repetitive attempts of solvation of these charges by polar explosive molecules. Every attempt of such uncompleted nonequilibrium solvation causes local exothermic decomposition of thermolabile polar molecules accompanied by further thermal jumping unsolvated excess charges to new surface sites. Thus, ionized mobile hot spots emerge on charged explosive surface. Stochastic migration of ionized hot spots on explosive surface causes gradual exothermic decomposition of the whole mass of the polar explosive. The similar gradual charge-catalyzed exothermic decomposition of both polar and nonpolar highly sensitive explosives can be also caused by intense charge-dipole attacks of surrounding water vapor molecules electrostatically attracted from ambient humid air and strongly accelerated towards charged sites on explosive surfaces. Emission of electrons, photons and heat from ionized hot spots randomly migrating on charged surface of highly sensitive explosive aerosol nanoparticles converts such particles into the form of short-circuited thermionic nanobatteries.