Comment on Anon learns a new spell

• Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  No, they’re a combustion event. An actual explosion (detonation, pre ignition) is really bad news for an engine.

  Firearms use a self oxidising propellant, so it would be quite easy to say that just doesn’t work.

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  • rtxn@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    What, pray tell, do you think is in gunpowder? It’s not magic dust that goes bang. It’s a pre-mixed, pre-compressed mixture of fuel and oxidiser. When used in a gun, whether it’s a muzzle-loader or a cartridge, the confined combustion of the mixture generates thermal energy and expanding gases that impart kinetic energy on a moving component (the piston or a projectile). The only difference is that the combustion event in an ICE is subsonic (deflagration) while the combustion in a gun is supersonic (detonation).

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    • Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      The only difference is that the combustion event in an ICE is subsonic (deflagration) while the combustion in a gun is supersonic (detonation).

      So what you’re saying is there’s a fundamental difference between the two?

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      • rtxn@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Yes, there are differences. That’s why one is called deflagration and the other is called detonation. But the chemical and thermodynamic processes are identical, and that’s what you seem to misunderstand.

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    • dohpaz42@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      @Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works is correct.

      I should’ve done my homework before going all “well akshullay 🤓” on them (sorry!).

      The only similarities between the two is that they both are chemical reactions that produce a rapid release of energy. But past that, they are much different in how they get to that point.

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