Forgotten explosives from World War I and II are becoming increasingly dangerous

The First and Second World Wars may be long over, but their traces can still be found everywhere. Among other things, in the form of explosives that were dropp decades ago to hit the enemy, but never detonat. That these unexplod explosives are dangerous is a fact. Even if they never explode, they pose a health risk, because they are doom to decay over time, after which their harmful components leak into nature and pollute the soil and groundwater. But decaying bombs and grenades pose another, more acute danger to public health. For example, they can suddenly and unintentionally explode. And the chance of that happening is much greater than previously thought, according to researchers in the journal. Their study reveals that some explosives from the First and Second World Wars become increasingly sensitive over time and therefore explode more easily.

Amatol specifically look at

The researchers base this conclusion on experiments. They  a component that we find in many explosives that were manufactur during the First and Second World Wars: amatol. Its use was born out of necessity, the researchers write.

During the First World War, so many explosives were produc that the British quickly us up their stock of explosive materials latest phone number database such as TNT and picric acid. In order to be able to use the stock of TNT for longer, researchers employ by the British defense start mixing it with ammonium nitrate.

The mixture was call amatol and turn out to be a

Powerful explosive material that was extremely suitable for use in explosives. Other countries of course soon realiz this and Me pehea te whakahaere tuhinga pai? start using it too. And by the time the Second World War broke out, it was actually self-evident that, for example, artillery shells were fill with amatol.

It was only towards the end of the Second World War, when it was possible to produce a large quantity of TNT in a short time, that this chang and the addition of ammonium nitrate became unnecessary. “Although now virtually bwb directory obsolete, amatol has been us by all nations as a supplement to TNT in all types of munitions for several decades,” the researchers write. “And since a significant percentage of both World War I and World War II munitions contain amatol, understanding the properties it acquires over time is of enormous importance.”