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Anon learns a new spell (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 year ago by [M] to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

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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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    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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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    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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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

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

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