PHYSICAL APPEARANCE/COLOR – Colorless when pure, commercial grades are pale yellow and may be dyed for identification
INITIATION – Requires a strong initiator, #8 blasting cap and booster
SENSITIVITY – Insensitive to friction, impact, or flame. Detonates on impact with 7.62mm (.30 cal.) rifle bullet
STABILITY – Stable under normal storage conditions
DETONATION VELOCITY – 6,300 m/s (20,669 fps) when under confinement
RE FACTOR (BRISANCE) [TNT=1.0] – 1.14
TOXICITY – Vapors irritating to the lungs. Prolonged contact can be lethal
MELTING POINT – -20o C. (-4o F.)
IGNITION POINT – 430o C.(806o F.) Explodes
BOILING POINT – 101o C.(214o F.)
SOLUBILITY – Sparingly miscible in water, alcohol, and ether
APPLICATIONS – PRINCIPLE USES – Chemical reagent and solvent, ingredient for fuels, motor fuels, and explosive compounds, particularly liquid explosives
Nitromethane is a liquid explosive that requires a substantial shock for detonation to take place. If a puddle of Nitromethane on a concrete floor has a burning match dropped into it, the match would simply go out. If that same puddle was smacked hard with a hammer, the liquid would detonate. A standard commercial blasting cap supplies sufficient shock to detonate Nitromethane. The normally clear liquid is often dyed for use both as a racing fuel additive as well as an explosive. Nitromethane is dyed red when it is used as a component of the binary explosive Kinepak. The Nitromethane liquid would be mixed with the solid component of Kinepak, Ammonium nitrate, to prepare the explosive for use. After a five to fifteen-minute wait, the resulting explosive charge would be more powerful than either of its components are if they were fired separately. Another binary explosive is HELIX (High Energy Liquid Explosive. It uses green-dyed 99% pure Nitromethane as one of its components. In the HELIX mixture, the Nitromethane would be poured into a bottle of powdered aluminum with an additional component, Stearic acid. The Stearic acid allows very small air bubbles to stick to the aluminum particles, increasing the sensitivity of the mixture for detonation. The Nitromethane is simply poured into the bottle of aluminum and the container shaken to complete the mix.
