Posted on 03/06/2015 3:35:05 PM PST by LibWhacker
Molecular configuration of an exploding buckybomb. Credit: ACS
(Phys.org)—Scientists have simulated the explosion of a modified buckminsterfullerene molecule (C60), better known as a buckyball, and shown that the reaction produces a tremendous increase in temperature and pressure within a fraction of a second. The nanoscale explosive, which the scientists nickname a "buckybomb," belongs to the emerging field of high-energy nanomaterials that could have a variety of military and industrial applications.
The researchers, Vitaly V. Chaban, Eudes Eterno Fileti, and Oleg V. Prezhdo at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, have published a paper on the simulated buckybomb explosion in a recent issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Chaban is also with the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil.
The buckybomb combines the unique properties of two classes of materials: carbon structures and energetic nanomaterials. Carbon materials such as C60 can be chemically modified fairly easily to change their properties. Meanwhile, NO2 groups are known to contribute to detonation and combustion processes because they are a major source of oxygen. So, the scientists wondered what would happen if NO2 groups were attached to C60 molecules: would the whole thing explode? And how?
The simulations answered these questions by revealing the explosion in step-by-step detail. Starting with an intact buckybomb (technically called dodecanitrofullerene, or C60(NO2)12), the researchers raised the simulated temperature to 1000 K (700 °C). Within a picosecond (10-12 second), the NO2 groups begin to isomerize, rearranging their atoms and forming new groups with some of the carbon atoms from the C60. As a few more picoseconds pass, the C60 structure loses some of its electrons, which interferes with the bonds that hold it together, and, in a flash, the large molecule disintegrates into many tiny pieces of diatomic carbon (C2). What's left is a mixture of gases including CO2, NO2, and N2, as well as C2.
Although this reaction requires an initial heat input to get going, once it's going it releases an enormous amount of heat for its size. Within the first picosecond, the temperature increases from 1000 to 2500 K. But at this point the molecule is unstable, so additional reactions over the next 50 picoseconds raise the temperature to 4000 K. At this temperature, the pressure can reach as high as 1200 MPa (more than 10,000 times normal atmospheric pressure), depending on the density of the material.
Chemically speaking, the scientists explain that the heat energy comes from the high density of covalent energy stored by the carbon-carbon bonds in the C60. Because the NO2 groups initiate the reaction, adding more NO2 groups increases the amount of energy released during the explosion. Choosing an appropriate number of these groups, as well as changing the compound concentration, provide ways to control the explosion strength.
The researchers predict that this quick release of chemical energy will provide exciting opportunities for the design of new high-energy nanomaterials.
Or smaller nukes .....hmmmm !
Now where is that darn suggestion box.......;o)
It would turn your handgun into a hand grenade with most of the upper turning into melted fragments accelerating away at upwards of 5,500 FPS.
Now me, I'd much rather know what this would be like in the ACP round, and what it would do to the target.
Say, wouldn't that be a good way to blow up a satellite?
Blow up in your hand?
Simulations, right? It never really happened, correct?
Probably blow the barrel off.
I’m guessing it would disassemble itself — rapidly.
bttt
So we’ve gone from the atom bomb to the molecule bomb?
Wow, can’t believe people are clamoring to get their hands on C60 so they can ingest it. C60 olive oil??? Holy cow to all those gullible people out there, hold your horses until it can be thoroughly tested!
“Holy cow to all those gullible people out there, hold your horses until it can be thoroughly tested!”
You could say that for the whole supplement market I guess. I’m coming up on seventy and living to 140 would be something I would have to thing real hard about. I wouldn’t relish coming out of retirement.
“...Different bullets require different speed explosives. Smaller bullets kill by shockwave and must travel fast, so their powder burns fast. A .380, for example, travels at 1200 fps. Larger bullets, like the .45 kill by transferring momentum and travel more slowly, about 800fps. Their powder burns more slowly.”
Actually, modern firearm propellants are not explosives at all.
Composed of nitrocellulose (sometimes nitroglycerin is added), the “smokeless powder” in today’s metallic cartridges burns (technically, deflagrates), at a carefully controlled rate. Confined in a cartridge case inside a gun, it burns so quickly that to human perception it sounds like an explosion.
But modern explosives like trinitrotoluene (TNT), pentaerythrotetratnitrate (PETN) etc explode (detonate) with a velocity many, many times greater; part of the definition of “high” explosive is that the detonation travels faster than the speed of sound in that material, creating a shock wave of high pressure. Unlike nitro propellant, high explosives do not need to be confined to go “bang.” With the right additives and mixing, high explosives ean be rendered very insensitive; a match can be set to them and they will burn only fitfully. They must be set off (initiated) with a fuze, containing the proper initiating or primary explosive (in small arms primers, that initiator is chlorate, or styphnate or azide).
Pistol bullets kill by injuring a vulnerable body part and/or promoting blood loss. 380 ACP and 45 ACP are not far apart in performance: 95gr at 955 ft/sec and 234 gr at 820 ft/sec. The same propellant is often used in both. Neither meets the minimum criteria for inducing a shock wave cavity in living tissue (something above 2100 ft/sec - varies because tissue density varies in density). Beyond that, no one is perfectly sure what the incapacitation mechanism is. Best correlation is energy deposition in the target.
Buckminster Fuller, spoke at my College Commencement, he was pretty cool talked about developing the geodesic dome and prospects for earths future!
What is the detonation front (shock wave) velocity?
Say, compared to RDX?
Imagine a 1ton nuke that could be fired from an M1A1 Abrams tank.
I knew somebody out there was more knowledgeable than me. Thanks for the information!
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